Dubai: Major consumer electronic retailers reaped a harvest from Eid sales last weekend, especially on smartphones, by offering discounts and bundled offers to tourists and residents alike.
They have registered better sales than last year and expect the buying trend to continue till end of the month.
“The sales were not bad and we grew by around 12 per cent compared to last year. Smartphone sales were strong, led by Samsung and Apple, but TV sales were flat,” said Deepak Babani, CEO of Eros Group.
Despite a drastic cut in the prices of large-screen TVs and in some models with discounts of around Dh4,000 from the actual price of Dh20,999, sales are not growing and Babani cited growth in smart devices (smartphones and tablets) and people not being able to differentiate the present 4K TV picture quality from the old 2K TVs as main reasons.
The 4K TVs boast a pixel format of 3840 x 2160 pixels, four times that of current 1920 x 1080p Full HD TVs, and have great clarity and depth.
He said that there is a big difference in picture quality from 2K to 4K but customers are not willing to buy, so the replacement period of televisions (usually three years) is getting extended.
Nadeem Khanzadah, head of omnichannel retail at Jumbo Group, said that Eid sales were extremely good and much better than expected.
“We registered a year-on-year growth of 25 per cent. There were many Saudi tourists at the malls and even the residents were buying as some were preparing for summer holidays,” he said.
According to travel agents and tourism officials, a wave of tourists from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and India visited Dubai during the Eid Al Fitr holidays.
“Tourists bought smartphones rather than TVs while point-and-shoot camera sales are already down due to the cannibalisation of smartphones,” Khanzadah said.
Mall sales picked up as tourists spent time at the malls due to the hot weather outside.
Smartphones were the top seller, followed by laptops and TVs.
Retailers said that Apple and Samsung phones were the top sellers.
Omar Abu Shaban, general manager of Plug Ins, said that iPhones did around 15 per cent of our overall Eid sales and Apple products in general registered good growth. Personal audio (headphones, wireless speakers and sound bars) registered around 41 per cent year-on-year growth.
“We had a marginal growth compared to last year. We saw most of Saudi and other GCC tourists at most of our stores,” he said.
Retailers see August to be subdued and expect the next buying trend to happen in September as residents are back and the back-to-school season starts.
Looking at the entire market, Babani said that home appliances have done really well. Fridges have grown by 12 per cent and washing machines are growing at 10 per cent.
“Home appliances have done better than normal and people are looking at larger sizes. Home appliance market will grow by around 10-12 per cent this year compared to the usual 3-4 per cent,” he said.
