Dubai: Key retailers have mixed views on the Indian Premier League cricket matches, taking place in the UAE, affecting the four-day sales.
“IPL may play spoilsport as fans will be focused on the matches. But the positive side is that many cricket fans have entered the country to watch the matches. So this Gitex has positive and negative sides. It will be interesting to watch,” said Neelesh Batnagar, CEO of Emax Electronics.
The IPL has been a success so far with tickets completely sold out and even tickets were sold in black market for exorbitant prices. The matches are mostly taking place in the evenings in Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi.
Deepak Babani, CEO of Eros Electronics, said that there will be a marginal impact on sales due to IPL, especially the matches held in Dubai and Sharjah.
“Many people will not go to Abu Dhabi to see the matches,” he said.
But Sean Connor, general manager at Plug Ins, has a different opinion. Whether it is IPL or not, he said that people looking for bargains will definitely come to Gitex. IPL matches are held in the evenings, so they can come to the shopping fest in the mornings.
On the positive side, he said many visitors who have come to watch the cricket matches are good news.
Even though consumers are not going to carry TVs to India due to the 36 per cent customs duty despite buying a TV in the UAE is almost 40 per cent cheaper than in India.
Retailers expect visitors to pick up smartphones, cameras and tablets.
The new Samsung Galaxy S5 was launched in India for Rs50,000 and HTC One (M8) for Rs49,000. The same S5 is available in the UAE for Dh2,699, which converts to Rs44,965 while the HTC One is available for Dh2,749, which converts to Rs45,816. A buyer can neatly save around Rs5,000 apart from the bundled offers.
“Galaxy S5 is facing shortage of supply and we are getting small quantities at regular intervals. We have sold around 85,000 units in the UAE so far,” Babani said.
The interesting fact is that IPL matches are broadcasted live at the event, said Ashish Panjabi, COO at Jacky’s Electronics.
“I don’t think IPL will have a significant impact on sales. Gitex had overlapped with Champions Trophy and T20 matches before. It is not the first time it is overlapping. The crowd will reach its climax on Friday and Saturday,” he said.
“We see this event as the year of the smartphone. With major launches happening from Samsung with the Galaxy S5; HTC with the One (m8); Nokia with the Android-based X-series devices; and Lenovo with the new Vibe Z, we expect customers to be spoilt for choice. We also anticipate Samsung to be the leader this year in terms of sales, with Lenovo, Nokia and HTC also experiencing growth in the category,” he said.
From a supply side, he said retailers had to work extremely hard with our suppliers to ensure we have enough stocks as we expect to sell more smartphones in the four-day event than we will have for the next two months combined.
Retailers expect sales to pick up on Friday and Saturday rather than Wednesday and Thursday.
