Dubai: The Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (DEPE), which spearheads the region's popular shopping event in summer, has declared a three-month long shopping period from June 17 to September 15.
Dubbed "Summer Deals 2010", the retail extravaganza covers the 13th edition of Dubai Summer Surprises (DSS), Ramadan and Eid Al Fitr.
Following the recent entry of several international and regional brands into Dubai's shopping scene, more than 6,000 retail outlets are expected to participate in the summer promotion.
Jacky's Electronics general manager Jimmy Patel, said they are giving away Dh1 million worth of free meal vouchers from Americana Group's line of food outlets across the UAE.
"Like most sectors, our industry too is affected by the financial crisis but now seems better compared to the same period last year. So this DSS, we move with more confidence than last year. We are optimistic for certain categories like smart phones, laptops, cameras and flat panels to show growth during this period," said Patel.
"The government has taken steps to make this event more exciting than last year and make people feel good and enjoy the summer. Also, malls like MAF have got together this time to give a bigger and better offering to their customers for DSS," he added.
In a study conducted by DEPE, the majority of the visitors (77 per cent) were satisfied with the DSS promotions last year, while 51 per cent of them agreed that shopping was indeed the main attraction of DSS. The shoppers' top purchases last year were clothes, fashion accessories, perfumes, cosmetics, electronics, watches and toys.
Despite the rough economic climate last year, DSS 2009 lured 2.2 million visitors.
