Local handset retailers hope to strike deals with bulk buyers

Dubai: Local retailers and distributors have started receiving feelers from prospective bulk buyers to take up their stocks of BlackBerrys.

If the deals go through, the buyers expect to ship the models to markets elsewhere in the region and Africa and reap sizable profits.

If the bulk buyers play it smart, they can yet make it happen. BlackBerry sales at the local retail level are virtually non-existent since the UAE's Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) took a tough stance against some of the features and services that are built into them.

Retailers are now caught with "dead" stocks that are unlikely to see any movement until such time as a resolution, if it happens, is found to the impasse.

This is where the bulk buyers can come in handy, though their terms will be at a steep discount to the listed prices of the models here.

By acquiring the models at a discount here and shipping them out to the market of their choice, the bulk buyers can expect to realise handsome profits. Egypt is being mentioned as a potentially lucrative market where these shipments could be headed.

Trouble

Fleeting visions of being caught between a rock and a very hard place if they do not liquidate the present stocks are starting to trouble retailers here. "It makes better sense to liquidate our existing BlackBerry stocks at a loss rather than hold, expecting the regulatory situation to change overnight," said a senior manager with a leading retailer of mobiles phones.

Moreover, payment in the majority of such cases is made up front. "We have already had preliminary talks with a couple of bulk importers we know, others are sending out feelers as well. Decisions need to be made quickly." The emphasis on speed is telling. BlackBerry models have not been immune to sharp price slides. A base model can be had for slightly less than Dh800.

"With the kind of drops BlackBerry model prices have been going through, it's been our strict policy to monitor stocks on a week-to-week basis and not longer," said Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO of Emax Electronics and a leading mobile phone retailer in the market. "With the other Gulf countries expected to follow the UAE's lead in some form or the other in the next couple of days, it's going to get tough for BlackBerry in the Gulf. Whatever stocks we hold will be cleared in the normal course of business."