The other reality is as visitors what we get to see when we visit the gulf countries. Most of us are taken in by the successful marketing machine, flashy cars, grand hotels, opulent shopping malls and mega structures. Seldom does anyone get to venture out into the smaller Aswaaq in the local towns and villages, where the traditional locals live and there is a more accurate representation of the natives who value, appreciate, understand and treasure oudh. This is an important factor when we assess the market as we see it when we visit. According to wiki as of 2013 in the UAE there are ~9.2mil people, 7.8mil are expats and 1.4mil are locals emiratis. Therefore for the most part when you are in Dubai or Abu Dhabi what you are witnessing is very much a reflection of any major city, with a sprinkle of gulf flavour. We have a saying in Arabic, if you want to learn Arabic go to banu Tamim. There is also another similar saying, if you want to learn Arabic learn from the Bedouin. The wisdom in these saying is, in our heritage, the culture and it's traditions are kept by the bedouins. Not the city slickers.
Finding artisan products is not easy in any place and definitely not in mass produced markets. Companies like ASAQ, Ajmal etc are not aiming for the artisan market only, they cater for a much wider range. Therefore we cant expect from them as we do from artisans who only cater for a niche. Do they have high quality oils and woods, yes they do, is it in every one of their stores, no. Are artisans on every street corner? no. The market exists where there is demand for it, artisans supply to where their is demand for their product, these big houses also store their top quality goods in stores where there is demand for them.
Putting the larger brands a side, the people who appreciate this gift of nature in the gulf and know it better than most of us are not in the big cities, nor are the shops that supply them in the big cities. This is a fact to note before passing judgement on a whole people from whom we take not only the understanding of Oudh but even the name.
I remember watching a couple of documentaries called Food Inc and Earthlings, the impact they had on me was immense. In the US big corporations slave control pretty much 90% of growers from how the plant seeds to how they harvest. Pushing for the production of corn, and then engineering everything else from corn to the extent that 70% of the goods we purchase from the grocery stores contains corn syrup. There is very little option for consumers, unless they grow organic, or find organic farms (very few in numbers) then support them. This type of environment naturally will drive people to seek out those organic sources. However the unfortunate truth is, the majority of consumers are on the same conveyor belt that the corn seeds get sorted on, zero choice.