Dubai: The regional consumer electronics market is tough this year and next year is also going to be subdued, Dubai-based Nikai Group head told Gulf News.
“The oil prices are not going to be high next year and, at the same time, the war situation in Syria and Yemen are not going to improve. So the consumer confidence is not upbeat and the global economy is still in a bad shape as Japan and China are de-growing,” said Paras Shahdadpuri, chairman of the Nikai Group of companies.
He said that he is looking at the US President Donald Trump to give a boost to the US economy and if the US economy gets a boost, the global economy will be impacted.
After holding a commendable position as a diplomat at India’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Shahdadpuri established Nikai in 1995 with small domestic appliances. In 2005, the group ventured into white goods like refrigerators, chest freezers, cooking ranges and air-conditioners, and a couple of years later into brown goods like TVs, digital media players, etc.
He said the group does not spend too much on advertising like other brands do.
For example, he said that a Coke costs Dh1.50 outside but in a hotel, the same Coke costs Dh25. When you buy it in a hotel it is an experience for you. Same is the case with Nikai.
“We just don’t sell Nikai, we sell a Nikai experience,” he said.
Nikai is sold in 60 countries in the Middle East, Africa, CIS and Asia.
Nikai claims to be number one in consumer electronics among OEM brands. The brand has also launched curved LEDs as well as the 4K LED TVs in the market.
Right now, he said the industry is going through a change. Many brands like Nokia, Sanyo, Hitachi, Motorola and JVC are no more. There is a life cycle for everything.
“By God’s grace, we are extraordinarily ethical in our behaviour and conduct. Right now, I am getting the return on investment with my money,” he said.
The brand has recorded a seven per cent year-on-year growth in revenues and Shahdadpuri claims that the group has never dipped in revenue growth over the years.
“We are in a Catch-22 situation. Expenses and rents are not going down. So, we have to keep on innovating our business to grow and sustain. Take the case of Abu Dhabi, despite having barrels of oil, they want to get out of oil as fast as they can and developing other sources of energy and diversifying into other sources of business. That is life and I don’t want to be stagnant. I want to diversify and diversify is the name of the game,” he said.
“So, we business entrepreneurs need to diversify, expand and weigh which way we should go. I find it harder to sustain the number one ranking but we will sustain the top position and that is our secret. To sustain the growth, the only way is to expand our geographies,” he said.
Nikai is also into foodstuff, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) and outsourcing human resources and has bigger plans for consumer electronics industry in 2017.
