Dubai: Bundling is the only game that counts any more in tech retail. Visitors to Gitex Shopper 2012 will have plenty of product and service bundles awaiting them when they hit the aisles of the Dubai International Exhibition Centre this week.
Going for a smartphone? Why not receive a snazzy leather pouch free of charge along with it? If a tablet is what the buyer has an eye on, chances are that a keyboard will be thrown into the bundle. And for a generation-next Ultrabook, it is either a printer or a carry bag. Or both.
“With very little to choose between the prices on offer by tech retailers — physical and e-commerce portals alike — every other week of the year, how the bundles are put together is what matters most,” said Niranjan Gidwani, deputy CEO at Eros Group. “It will be more so during the peak retail week of the Shopper.”
Precisely. According to industry sources, the seven to ten days of sustained promotions during Gitex Shopper contribute 8 to 12 per cent of a retailer’s sales over a full year. In other words, what it offers is a platform to do some sustained selling to a captive audience and all this while keeping the marketing costs at optimum levels.
Sure, bundled offers are nothing new in the UAE’s tech sector. The earlier practice was to put in a few freebies with a best-selling product and that was the extent of it as far as the retailers were concerned. That has now changed with as much forethought given to the freebies as to the product itself.
The many e-commerce portals have a lot to do with this. Over the last 12 months, in particular, more local shoppers are getting a feel of buying gadgets over the web. While their numbers are still a distinct minority — about 5 per cent of the overall — it is a marketplace that is defined by prices.
“Price is definitely the number one reason for people buying online rather than offline,” said Byron Koller, digital marketing director at Cobone.com. “Secondly, consumers find it more convenient to buy from home, where they have instant access to product reviews, price comparison and other information from various online resources.
“Looking at buying habits, 25 per cent of buyers in the UAE have purchased from our electronics store.”
Brick-and-mortar retailers now have a chance to hit back through the Shopper. Smartphones, tablets and notebooks should make up 60 to 70 per cent of product transactions at this year’s event, with the latter category intent on creating some waves with the new line of Ultrabooks that vendors are putting out. Plus, there is the build up towards the launch of the Windows 8 operating system scheduled for October 26 and that, industry sources say, will sustain notebook sales momentum through the rest of the year.
And there is more to come. “The fourth quarter is always good due to Gitex, Eid and the Christmas/New Year seasons,” said Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO of Emax. “With the launch of the iPhone 5, Windows 8, the new Microsoft tablet, the Nokia Lumia 920 and many new products, we expect the market to be aggressive.”
That is all for the weeks ahead, but during Shopper 2012 retailers are hoping that the tablet format will win back some much-needed traction. A case in point is the iPad. The latest model has now been in the market awhile, but is yet to record the sharp jump in sales that was there for the iPad 2 at the end of last year and in the first quarter of 2012.
Retailers expect next week to provide a turnaround: “iPad sales have remained consistent through the year,” said Ashish Panjabi, chief operating officer at Jacky’s Electronics. ”We anticipate a jump to happen during Gitex Shopper as this is when most retailers will be running special offers.”
In the final analysis, shoppers who can bide their time to buy the must-have products will be clear beneficiaries. Multiple retailers ensure that the days of dormant high prices are long gone.
At Gitex Shopper 2012, they can get their products and prizes too.
