Waiting for a Windows windfall

Dubai: Retailers at this year's Gitex Shopper are looking to an early release of Windows 7 to help drive sales at the event.

The PC operating system, the successor to Microsoft's unpopular Vista, will be globally launched on October 22, but according to Charbel Fakhoury, Microsoft's general manager in Dubai, the software giant is allowing vendors to sell the system pre-installed exclusively at Gitex Shopper when the event opens on Sunday.

Shopper, a part of the World Trade Center's Gitex Technology week, will run for 8 days at the Airport Exhibition Centre.

Shankar Iyer, the general manager for Emax UAE, said he expects the software release to have a large impact on sales.

"Absolutely, a lot of customers want to be the first to have it," he said.

Ashish Panjabi, the chief operating officer for Jacky's Electronics, said virtually every computer brand is releasing a new model for the launch of Windows 7.

Buying frenzy

While the retailers involved usually do not release their revenues for the show, Panjabi said that Gitex Shopper was "like having another month in the calendar".

While Windows 7 may boost sales, no vendor that Gulf News spoke to was expecting a return to the buying frenzy of past years.

Vishesh Bhatia, the group director of Electronic, Engineering & Technologies Division for the Al Futtaim Trading Company, which includes Plug-ins Electronics, said he expects sales at this year's event to be "modest".

"The general state of the economy is modest," he said. "We'd all love to be optimistic and give glowing figures, but the fact is that things are modest."

Bhatia said that Plug-ins, which is returning to Shopper after an absence last year, will still have a smaller presence at the show than it did two years ago, although Bhatia attributes that partly to the retailer's focus on Informational Technology (IT) products this years instead of on consumer electronics in general. But the general feeling among many retailers is that the Gitex shopper may signal an increase in consumer spending, at least in IT.

"Everyone is looking forward to this being the turning point," Iyer said. "People are tired on the recession."

Iyer said he has also seen some early good signs, such as increased foot traffic in stores.

Many retailers said that the timing for this year's Gitex shopper was excellent, with many expecting the holidays of Diwali and Christmas to help boost sales.

"I think if the event was in the first quarter I would be a lot more worried that I am now," Panjabi said.

But retailers are taking no chances, with several planning on offering special deals at the show to attract consumers.

While some consumers have grumbled the last few years that Gitex Shopper simply offers that same sales found in the retailer's mall stores, all three retailers that Gulf News interviewed agreed to offer exclusive offers available only to visitors who come to the Airport Exhibition Centre.

No vendors had yet released what special offers they will have since many wait until the last possible moment.

Vendors said this is a tactic to prevent other retailers from copying the promotions.