Dubai: UAE’s online stores are letting shoppers decide how they want to do their next top-of-the-range smartphone purchase – buy now or wait for delivery. If they choose the second option, shoppers could save a hundred or two on their purchase. And they could use that for another purchase as the ‘Black Friday’ promotions go all out in the UAE.
Shoppers will have to decide soon as these promotions pick up some serious momentum. “An iPhone 13 Pro 256GB is selling on a popular ecommerce platform for Dh4,800, which is Dh150 higher than on Apple’s own online store – but you need to wait three weeks longer to get it,” said Sandeep Ganediwalla, regional Partner at RedSeer Consulting, a retail consultancy.
“This is happening for most high-end smartphones because of the supply situation and competing demand from global markets.”
The bundled offers too are getting better. If there are no straight discounts on the main purchase, retailers are giving more add-ons to get the shopper clicking on the deal.
This is the first truly omni-channel Black Friday event in the UAE - a majority of players are participating across online and physical store channels this time around
Bring them on
While noon, Amazon, LuLu and Carrefour have lined up eye-popping straight out discounts, UAE’s electronics retailers like Jacky’s and Sharaf DG keep making a case to upgrade to the next 4K TV or laptop.
Ashish Panjabi, Chief Operating Officer at Jacky’s says smartphones – with Samsung Galaxy Fold 3 and iPhone 13 the top choices – and the latest smartwatch and earphone models will see the biggest demand as far as gadgets go.
There are also subtle changes underway. “Retailers have had to shift tactics and the focus has moved to sustainability,” said Panjabi. “ More promotions are based on taking back old devices, partly because it helps the environment and, secondly, because the market for used devices has grown due to supply chain constraints.”
Yes, there is demand for home appliances and white goods as the property market is booming and more people are renovating or moving homes
A month of ‘Black Fridays’?
In another trend that is playing out, UAE retailers are converting the whole of November into one big promotional period. “Why focus all energy on just that one Friday in November?” said Namdakumar V., Chief Commercial Officer at LuLu Group, which is working on the ‘Super Friday’ theme. “Almost all major retailers have major offers running on all the Fridays of this month.”
This way, there is more time for shoppers to decide and spend on their next buys, rather than focus all their attention on that single Friday at the end of November. For retailers, it means more time to plan their stocks and handle the delivery side of the sales.
”Retailers such as Sun and Sand Sports have scaled up their Black Friday promotions this year and have been running them since early November,” said Ganediwalla. “They have some aggressively priced high quality brands such as Nike and Under Armour on offer.
“noon, Amazon and (fashion-focussed) Namshi continue to scale up their promotions. Most of them have been doing something for the whole of November and have a week-long Black Friday-specific deals.”
Fashion tops
It will be on fashion merchandise that some of the biggest discounts are seen. Fashion and accessory sales had a relatively quiet first-half this year, based on feedback from multiple retailers. But after summer, there has been a steady rise in sales, online and at stores, and retailers will be hoping to nail it in the final weeks.
December should turn out to be a glory month for fashion sales – and retailers have been busy this month in getting the offers flowing. “Fashion brands have been the most aggressive this Black Friday,” said Ganediwalla. “Check out the American Eagle offers, which are more than 50 per cent across the line.”
It will not be the only label making that statement of intent. As for UAE shoppers, it is the time of the year when they get busy on a Friday searching out deals and clicking on them. Unless they have already done so…
