Dubai: Retailers are offering attractive deals by spending more than Dh106 million on promotions during the Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF), which kicks off on January 1, in a bid to make consumers open up their wallets.

As a key segment of the retail industry, consumer electronics will maintain its pivotal role in this year’s DSF. Smartphones, 4K TVs, tablets and laptops are expected to dominate sales.

Eros is spending Dh40 million on promotions and offers. Deepak Babani, CEO of Eros Group, said that DSF should be good as the offers are tempting. He, however, expressed concern about the Russian tourists as their flow to the UAE has reduced, but said that traffic from India has increased.

“We are expecting a 25 per cent growth. The offers are good for large-sized 4K TVs and around 20 per cent discount on Samsung smartphones. Bundles are much less compared to last year, while the bundled offers add more value to the buyer,” he said.

Emax, meanwhile, is expecting a 30 per cent growth compared to last year while Oasis Mall is projecting a 20 per cent growth.

“Dubai Shopping Festival is set for another record this year as floods of tourists are expected to visit the city and experience the unique treats of the festival which has, over the years, increasingly appealed to consumers from around the world,” said Neelesh Bhatnaghar, CEO of Emax Electronics and director of Oasis Mall.

Emax has earmarked around Dh20 million for promotions and Oasis has earmarked Dh6 million this year.

Sean Connor, general manager at Plug Ins, said that the festival contributes about 15 per cent to the company’s annual sales revenue, with almost 50 per cent coming from tourists.

“Even though we are optimistic about a great event, we would keep our forecasts to a modest single-digit year-on-year growth of about 7-8 per cent.” Connor said, adding that Plug Ins had budgeted a total investment of about Dh5 million for DSF and expects good returns on the same.

Electronics has always been a hot commodity during DSF, attracting a large number of buyers from across the GCC, besides residents, said Nadeem Khanzadah, head of OmniChannel Retail at Jumbo Group.

“The DSF season also attracts tourists from Europe and China, and we see a clear widening of buyer profiles in our stores during this period. Fortunately for shoppers in Dubai, DSF promotions offer a great opportunity to update their gadgets at competitive rates, just as they enter the New Year,” he said.

Jumbo sees sales revenues rising by 20 per cent during the shopping festival and has allocated more than Dh5 million towards the upcoming edition.

Sharaf DG, too, expects a robust 2015 DSF edition as the market is poised to grow at a healthy rate fuelled by new product launches from the fourth quarter. “The overall market will grow at 8-10 per cent year on year while Sharaf DG will grow by 30 per cent year on year,” said Nilesh Khalkho, CEO of Sharaf DG. The retailer has earmarked over Dh30 million towards promotions and bundles.