Dubai: Gitex Shopper Spring Edition is set to witness one last wild bout of spending activity on Saturday.
Retailers are in a buoyant mood as shoppers throng the pathways of the hall looking for best deals, while girls and boys in vibrant colours are handing out leaflets to passing consumers and banners all over mention ‘deal of the hour’.
“The last two days are going to be vital for retailers,” Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO at Emax, told Gulf News. “The show has been good so far and we have exceeded our expectations.
“The first two days have been very good for us. The sales generated are quite similar to what we have attained at the main Gitex Shopper held in October. It is on the same scale.”
Retailers expect the last two days going to the same as the last two days of last year’s Gitex Shopper. “If we take into consideration the last four days of the main Gitex, this spring edition is similar to that,” Bhatnagar said. “We have to move additional stocks to the location as we did not expect this kind of sales and we are geared up for the weekend frenzy.”
Smartphones and laptops have taken centre stage followed by LED panels at this year’s event, said retailers. So far the sales have exceed retailers’ expectations and they said that they will not be reducing prices of products for the last two days.
”Bundled offers and promotions are paying off,” said Ashish Panjabi, COO of Jacky’s Electronics. “We have already been seeing a rise in crowd on Friday morning. We had expected crowd to bigger by evening or after Friday prayers but we are seeing a big footfall.”
The official figures of footfall and revenues are expected to be released late next week.
According to Mohammad Shafi, a 49-year-old Omani, “Gitex is one event which I don’t like to miss. I have been to Gitex many times. It is not only the offer that thrills me but also the display of latest gadgets under one roof.”
Shafi bought an HP laptop for himself and one iPad 2 for his sister. “I must have saved around Dh800 apart from the bundled offers when compared to purchasing it in Oman.”
“The prices have already been reduced for the Gitex Shopper and some brands may change the offer of the bundles,” retailers said.
But one retailer was selling BlackBerry Z10, which was worth Dh2,599, for Dh2499 plus an external 500GB hard disk for free while another was selling an LG Optimus L9 smartphone worth Dh999 and a 32-inch TV for Dh1,299.
Richard Simons, a 45-year-old Australian, said that he came to Dubai to take part in a conference. “My colleagues told me to take a look at the electronics expo if I am in need of any technology products,” he said. “This is the first time I have been to Dubai or Gulf but I was impressed by the offers and decency of the crowd. Finally I was tempted and bought a Samsung Note 2.”
