It is easy to assume that a resume stamped with global giants like Unilever and Henkel guarantees a seamless playbook for any market. But Ulyana Vilkina, Marketing Lead at Fix Price UAE, argues that in the Emirates, the “global playbook” is often the first thing to break.
In a conversation that cuts through the industry buzzwords, Vilkina offers a refreshing dose of realism. She details why specific “micro-contexts” now trump broad strategy, why she remains skeptical of the MarTech tool flood, and how value retail is shifting from a “fallback” option to a primary engine of growth. This isn’t a theoretical whitepaper; it’s a field guide to reading the shelf, the shopper, and the honest reality of the trade.
You’ve worked across major FMCG brands like Unilever, Henkel, and Kimberly-Clark. How has this cross-category experience shaped your approach to building marketing strategy in fast-moving retail environments?
Working across diverse categories and international markets with industry leaders gave me a foundation that has been especially valuable in the UAE. Here, everything breaks down into local micro-contexts: one neighborhood has a specific set of behaviors and habits, while the next might follow a completely different pattern.
That reality forces you to forget the theoretical “how it should work” and instead look carefully at how it actually functions on the ground—whether that is in traditional retail or e-commerce.
“My background taught me never to get too comfortable or assume that a successful approach can simply be copied and pasted to other categories.”
The teams that win are the ones reading the context in real time—what’s happening on the shelf, what competitive pressure looks like, how a specific retailer operates, and how the shopper moves through that environment. Ultimately, this experience made me more flexible; I built a strategy around the live context, rather than adhering to a theoretical playbook.
The UAE market demands hyper-localization – what resonates in one neighbourhood can fail in another. From a data perspective, how do you approach audience segmentation today? Do you lean more on geo-behavioural indicators, or is first-party transaction data still the most reliable guide?
“Segmentation works best when geo-behaviour and transactions are read as two layers of the same map.”
The market here is like a mosaic, not a linear landscape; two neighbouring districts can differ sharply in consumption patterns, retail formats, and even daily movement rhythms.
So, I start the analysis with geo-behaviour like traffic density, expat composition, points of attraction, and the structure of nearby retailers. But that only gives us hypotheses, not conclusions.
The conclusions come when you overlay the transactions. Purchasing data doesn’t show intentions; it shows trade-offs. It reveals the price a shopper actually accepts, the SKUs they respond to, and the frequency with which they return. When dealing with high price elasticity, transaction data becomes the most reliable signal—local behavioural cues may look vivid, but they can still mislead.
In a market as diverse as the UAE, you need multiple inputs working together:
“Geo-behaviour to frame the context, transactional data to validate real choices, and channel-level insight to understand how people actually move through that retail landscape.”
Marketing leaders today face a flood of new tools – from AI content engines to increasingly complex attribution platforms. When evaluating new technology, what criteria help you determine whether a tool is a true long-term infrastructure investment or just another passing trend?
When I evaluate new marketing technology, I start with one core question: Does it create real operational value? The market is crowded with tools that promise efficiency but often end up adding complexity. So, my first filter is always CASUALITY—the platform has to show what actually changed in the funnel for us.
Then comes INTEGRATION. A tool should slot into existing planning, budgeting, and reporting rhythms in a way that feels proportionate to the value it delivers. We shouldn’t have to rewrite heavy processes just to make it work.
TRANSPARENCY matters as well. If a tool operates like a “black box” and I can’t explain its logic to the team, it won’t scale. Decisions work better when they are interpretable.
I also ask myself: what happens if we just wait? In fast-moving markets, not every new tool deserves early adoption. Sometimes the smartest move is to let others test the technology first to observe whether the value is structural or just noise.
And last but absolutely not least—ECONOMICS matter. If a tool can’t pay for itself, it remains an experiment, not a long-term asset.
As digital channels like TikTok, WhatsApp, and app-based loyalty programs become dominant, the day-to-day work of marketing teams is evolving. What specific skill set – whether technical or creative – do you believe is currently undervalued but essential for the next generation of marketing leaders in the Middle East?
In my opinion, the most undervalued skill today is the ability to blend creativity with micro-analytics to manage content in real time. This skill is difficult to consider in isolation from a whole range of others, so it’s not as easy as it might seem in theory. As various social media and loyalty apps shift marketing from planned calendars to continuous adaptation, teams need people who can read platform mechanics as clearly as they read user intent – and test ideas in very short, iterative cycles.
“In the Middle East, where audiences are highly layered, and trend velocity is extreme, this hybrid mindset becomes even more important.”
It enables teams to spot narrow formats that travel, optimise production costs, and increase engagement without escalating media spend.
This also reshapes role profiles: the edge goes to hybrids who can translate data into actionable creative choices—from video scripts to message variations tailored to micro-segments.
Of course, there is an additional challenge: staying on top of these trends without becoming a victim of the social media consumption loop yourself. But that’s a topic for a whole other discussion.
Looking ahead to 2026, which single consumer or technology trend do you believe will have the biggest impact on shaping value-driven retail experiences in the Middle East?
“I see a structural trend shaping value-driven retail in the Middle East: the rapid professionalisation and expansion of discount supermarket chains.”
What started as a niche is becoming a full competitive layer. We’re watching existing players scale faster than expected while, at the same time, new discount concepts are entering the market with surprisingly strong traction. This isn’t a temporary response to inflation—it’s a deeper shift in how consumers define “smart spending.”
In the UAE, value retail is moving from a fallback option to a primary shopping mission for a much broader audience.
“Shoppers want predictable pricing, low-friction trips, and baskets they can optimize without mental load. As this segment matures, the market will reward retailers who deliver both efficiency and delight, not just low prices, but clean navigation, clear price architecture, and fast store journeys.”
From that perspective, Fix Price entered the market at exactly the right moment. We see the momentum firsthand: the appetite for transparent value is rising across demographics, not just among price-sensitive groups. If the current trajectory continues, 2026 will be the year when value formats stop being an “alternative” and become one of the core engines of retail growth.
Read more: House Of Comms Wins Careem PR Mandate
