Dubai: Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) organisers and participants are taking advantage of online tools to promote and generate awareness about their activities during the festival.
According to a study by YouGov commissioned by the Dubai Events and Promotions Establishment (Depe), last year's festival brought in Dh15.1 billion to Dubai's economy and a similar figure is expected this year.
In order to generate that hefty sum, the Depe has spent Dh70 million in the past year on promoting DSF through local and overseas events in London, the GCC and Asia. This year sees the organisation increasingly harnessing the power of the internet to create awareness and attract consumers.
Last year, DEPE launched an online Dubai calendar, the first official reference for all events including festivals, exhibitions, cultural and sport happening throughout the year in Dubai. As DSF unfolds, the calendar has been a invaluable tool for promoting the various events and promotions run during the festival.
According to Dubai Events, the total number of visits between December 1, 2011 and January 1, 2012 to the website reached 61,750 with 79.29 per cent of the visits being unique. In the run-up to DSF, visits to the website featuring the festivals events increased by 20 per cent.
Top five nations
Statistics show that the top five countries actively researching DSF events are the UAE, India, Saudi, US and Russia.
This year also sees DSF taking advantage of the growth of social media by launching its own Facebook and Twitter accounts.
"We are using social media to not only inform people about events but to also engage with them, get feedback and use such feedback for our research while planning for future events," said Suhaib Abdullakutty, senior publications editor for customer, brand development and innovation.
The Facebook page currently has over 17,700 fans who have registered to take part in the online DSF Puzzle Challenge. The Twitter page is also running a competition, ‘Tweet to Win' which has attracted over 2,800 followers.
Other participating retailers are taking advantage of online platforms as a form of low-cost advertising and a way to engage effectively with their consumers.
"Over the past few years, online platforms have become a very effective means for customer engagement. We have used online advertising as a tool to announce our tactical initiatives in the past - adding it as an essential element of the 360 degree communication outreach. We have found that these usually attract click-throughs to our website where we can host more elaborate campaign messaging," said Rahul Saxena, head of marketing at Babyshop.
Babyshop is actively using its Facebook fan page to engage customers in discussions about their parenting experiences.
"A key aspect of online marketing is its ability to start a conversation. We have noticed independent forums which are widely regarded as credible sources of information and to exchange ideas. People are more open to sharing their opinions on social media vehicles as they have a visible interface with the brand," said Saxena.
According to Neelesh Bhatnagar, director of Oasis Centre, their Facebook fan page received a boost in followers who are keen to be involved in their promotions.
As well as using Facebook and Twitter, Damas Jewellery is also using utilising YouTube to run its advertisements to an online audience.
"These media are powerful tools where you can directly ‘talk' and ‘listen' to our target market, young ladies who go for fashionable and trendy jewellery and who are technologically equipped.
"We have launched our biggest ever social media campaign for the newly launched Farfasha Collection for 2011-2012. The Farfasha brand was launched in 2005-2006 to showcase a trendy and colourful gold jewellery line to fashion conscious, stylish and youthful consumers so we are targeting the same market segment and these are the people who are very much into social media with their iPhones, iPads, BlackBerrys, and other smartphones," said Raj Sahai, Damas director of retail.
Home Centre is tracking online target audience behaviour and advertises specifically in websites that potential shoppers for Home Centre would frequent.
"Online advertising is extremely integral to our DSF advertising plan. We are primarily opting for mainstream and general interest websites to advertising our promotion of getting a gift voucher worth Dh50 for every Dh250 spent at any of our stores," said Aarti Jagtiani, general manager at Home Centre.
