New technologies help event maintain its charm, appeal
“Highest growth came from the TV category, growing by 15 per cent during Gitex. New trend was witnessed for gaming notebooks as most of the sales of units and revenues were higher in this segment. Going forward, I expect the trend would remain same over the next four to six quarters as every brand is focusing on notebooks; HP, Dell and Lenovo all have good gaming machines, hence, people are attracted towards them. I expect five to eight per cent sale increase during the show,” Chotrani told Khaleej Times.
“I’m pretty optimistic for the next year as trends look good. 2017 was difficult year because economic climate worldwide was tough. But things are flowing back and upward trend is starting and 2018 will be a good year.” Generally, retailers sweeten offers during the last two days, with further discounts or additional freebies to increase revenues and clear stocks. In addition, it also gives visitors an opportunity to bargain for better deals to get more value for less money during those last days.
“Gitex is a platform where you don’t have to go to place-to-place as all the products are available under one roof. I came here and bargained with them [exhibitor], they gave me additional things worth Dh800 with the laptop I purchased. Here they are more aggressive towards sales — especially during the last couple of days. Here they want to capture the clients so they will go one step ahead,” said Mohammed Usman Yaseen, a resident of Dubai.
As a media partner, the UAE’s first and leading newspaper Khaleej Times also put up a stall where visitors were given 20 Huawei Honor 9 smartphones.
According to Nilesh Khalkho, CEO of Sharaf DG, sales have been slightly lower than last year’s event. However, the last two days have seen some good response.
“As people got their salaries in the last few days, we have seen a surge in both footfall and sales which is a positive sign. We have seen great response to the Note 8, S8 and S8+ and the two new iPhones — these have obviously been the biggest in terms of demand. We had the best offer in the market for these devices with offers on bank credit cards and low monthly installments which have driven good volumes,” Khalkho added.
The top products in terms of sales during this Gitex for Sharaf DG were the Samsung S8 and S8+; the new iPhone 8; smartwatches as a category; and large-screen TVs of 75 inches and above, which have done extremely well.
“Both the latest smartphones have done well, though with the iPhone 8 has been stocked out very soon, which affected sales during Gitex. We are expecting more stocks shortly which will drive the sales again for this product. Even for the S8 and S8+ we have almost sold out our entire inventory planned for Gitex Shopper,” he added.
Appetite for premium phones has continued to grow despite devices like the Note 8 being priced at a higher price points of Dh3,399, Khalkho said, adding that “Our segment leading price points for large-screen TVs has given us more than 100 per cent growth in the 75-plus inch TV segment where customers have been willing to upgrade to larger sizes with such an attractive pricing,” he added.
Nadeem Khanzadah, head of omnichannel retail at Jumbo Group, echoed Khakho’s views.
Though footfall and sales were on the lower side in the initial days of the exhibition, but have picked up in the last few days as people have just come back from vacations, he noted.
“First three to four days were low but it has picked up in the last couple of days. Let’s see whether it’ll go up to the last year,” he added.
Khanzadah said Samsung’s S8 and S8 Plus, few laptop models, drones, 55-inch TVs and wearables — especially smart watches — have done well. “Because iPhone 8 had shortage, so whatever had come was sold out,” he added.
— waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com