Dubai: It’s a war of the prices out there: Retailers outside Gitex Shopper are offering discounts and bundles in a bid to outdo participating outlets and lure customers to their stores.

With up to Dh600 in discounts on gaming consoles, big bundles on laptops and coupons on smartphones, non-participating retailers are entering the fray with some serious competition while the electronics show is on, a quick browse of the market shows.

They argue that you can get similar offers at their stores minus the hassle with the added bonus of shopping for groceries or other items.

“Shopper is crowded, there’s a lot of traffic and you pay to enter,” Sa’ad Khan, an electronics marketing representative with Promocell, said.

Lulu and Carrefour are some of the outlets offering competitive deals during Gitex Shopper.

“What we offer the most is convenience....Obviously, it is a great season for us and we make sure that each day, we come out with exciting offers,” Salim MA, director of Lulu Hypermarkets Group, said, adding that a range of laptops, tablets, panel TVs, mobiles, cameras and gaming consoles are on promotion.

Price offs

“Our research shows that shoppers attach more value to ‘price offs’ or gift vouchers rather than getting some unwanted ‘bundle offer’. Shoppers at Lulu can look forward to getting shopping vouchers up to Dh600 when they buy [select] electronic and digital products,” he said.

At one Carrefour outlet, a customer walked out with a Samsung LED TV. “I went to Gitex Shopper, but it’s cheaper here in Carrefour,” Lalit Kumar, an engineer, said. An assistant manager at Carrefour said: “Carrefour makes the same offers [as Gitex Shopper] and they are excellent. It’s cheaper by Dh200 on some products.”

At Carrefour, a laptop purchase worth Dh1,990 comes with an AVG anti-virus software, Touchmate headset and Touchmate tablet, while a laptop purchase of Dh2,690 has the same package with an additional Seagate hard disk.

An Xbox 360 goes for Dh1,299, two games and a controller. Blackberry phones come with shopping vouchers of up to Dh250.

At Lulu, a camera purchase of Dh800 comes with a Dh100 gift voucher, a TV worth Dh2,800 gets a Dh600 shopping voucher, a laptop purchase of Dh3,500 gets another Dh600 voucher. The offers will last until October 17, the last day of Gitex Technology, according to Lulu.

Braving the crowds

So, is it worth braving the crowds, traffic and an entrance fee to Gitex Shopper?

“The priority for stock allocation comes here. The Galaxy Note II is here today,” Ashish Panjabi, chief operating officer of Jacky’s Electronics, said, adding that the launch in the UAE is a day before the global release.

“Our bundles here are reactive because the competition is across from you. There’s a range and variety here that no one carries outside,” he said. “It’s fun outside a sterile mall environment, there’s a carnival atmosphere.”

Visitors were divided on Gitex Shopper, with some finding great offers and others complaining that the prices were the same as outside and the bundles did not always encourage a purchase.