Dubai: The curtains came down on region’s largest technology retail show on Saturday with electronics chains reporting surge in sales and a jump in consumer confidence.
Bargain hunters were scouting for throwaway deals and fabled last-minute discounts as the crowds were growing bigger as time passed by.
“We’ve seen a surge in numbers and the exhibitors are pretty happy with the number of buyers. Most retailers have come up with bundle offers and you can win anything from a car to gadgets, which adds incentives for consumers to buy more than they came in for,” Hemesh Chandavarkar, Exhibition Director at the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC), orgainsers of the four-day Gitex Shopper Spring edition, told Gulf News.
The great offers and right bundling has really paid off and consumers at the end are looking for the value. This is the first time “we are holding this event and there were no expectations from us as well as the exhibitors”.
The next spring edition will be held during the same time next year.
“We may take more floor space next year and it depends on the exhibitors’ confidence. Next year more brands may take place,” Chandavarkar said.
The main Gitex Shopper will be held from October 5-12 at DWTC with bigger floor space.
Success
A majority of participating retailers described this year’s Shopper as a “phenomenal success”.
“Footfall was huge on Friday and the hall was jam packed. Lot of families are coming in, but only one person is buying and the same thing for bachelors. They are coming with three or four friends. Sales are definitely better on the last two days compared to the first two days of the event,” said Ashish Panjabi, COO of Jacky’s Electronics.
Jacky’s has already run out of stock on all entry-level laptops, Samsung Grand, iPad mini 16GB in one colour and end-of-life LED panels.
He said the surprise element was the sale of iPhone 5, it was amazing.
Smartphones, laptops, DSLRs and LED panels were the fastest moving products.
“The show was much better than we expected right from the day one. It looks like consumers were waiting for the event and the sales picked up right from the start,” Nadeem Khanzadah, Head of Retail at Jumbo Electronics, said.
He said the sales were almost comparable to the last four days of the main Gitex Shopper.
“We have seen a slight increase when compared to the last four days of main Gitex,” he said.
Weekend sales
According to Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO of Emax, the weekend sales were much better than the main Gitex and it was beyond our expectations.
“I will request the orgainsers to make it a six-day event rather than four days. The effort that goes into arranging the event, putting up the stall, moving the manpower and arranging logistics, the benefits of that should go for two more days,” he said.
Some retailers had to open the warehouses on Friday as the expectations crossed their limits.
“Normally for the main Gitex, warehouses will be opened on weekends to meet the demand,” Panjabi said.
Emax was getting enough supply from distributors for meet the demand.
Bhatnagar said that affordability along with shorter cycle of launches with better technology has resulted in more customers experimenting with a wider range of products.
