Dubai: Retailers are putting their best foot — and latest products — forward as the fourth edition of Abu Dhabi Electronics Shopper 2015 (ADES 2015) opened its door on Wednesday.
Shaikh Nahyan Bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, inaugurated the four-day event.
Ashish Panjabi, COO of Jacky’s Retail, said the change in dates, which moved the show from March to November, will attract more visitors shopping for the holiday season as well as the F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which starts on Friday.
“When it was held in March, there were no new product launches. This time, all the major products are launched by the top brands, especially Apple and Samsung,” Panjabi said.
Jacky’s Retail, which manages the Samsung brand in the UAE, is expecting around 15 per cent year-on-year growth.
“We are offering Samsung Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge plus with very good discounts and bundle offers.” He said there is also demand for 55- and 65-inch TVs.
Retailers are also bringing exclusive deals to the show that are not available at their outlets. This is a different strategy from Gitex Shopper, the consumer electronics event held in Dubai, where retailers offer the same prices and bundle offers at both the show and their outlets.
Omar Abushaban, General Manager of Plug Ins, said that Abu Dhabi is an important growth market, since it has a growing population with medium to high disposable income, which he said is reflected in the transactions at the stores.
Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO of Emax Electronics, said the crowd at the show in the morning was “a bit slow” but it is expected to pick up during the weekend. He said smart watches, such as Samsung Gear S2, Huawei Watch and Apple Watch, are displayed prominently and are expected to attract buyers.
“We are expecting a 100 per cent year-on-year growth as we have some good offers on smartphones, especially iPhones,” he said.
Antoine Georges, managing director of Dome Exhibitions, organisers for ADES, said that they expect a 25 per cent year-on-year growth in revenues and 20 per cent increase in footfall. Sharaf DG, Emax, Plugins, Jacky’s Retail, Pluto Games, Samsung, Huawei, Hisense and Alienware are participating in this year’s event.
