Friday, Oct 09, 2015

Dubai: Retailers have sweetened deals and cut prices on some models as they are set to witness one last wild bout of spending activity on Saturday and are confident of meeting or improving their sales expectations.

They expect the remaining days to be the same as the last two days of last year’s Gitex Shopper.

Emax is expecting an upsurge in consumer spends over the last two days and expects to surpass the initial forecast of 15 per cent sales growth.

“We’re geared up for the weekend frenzy; it is going to be a phase of aggressive spending. We’re expecting shoppers to throng through the aisles to take advantage of the fantastic bundles and promotions which are sure to pay off,” said Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO, Emax.

Emax sales at the show indicated that laptops are the leading category followed by smartphones and panels. The increasing demand and the constant growth of laptops over the past year clearly show cases the comeback of the category in the consumer electronics sector.

So far, smartphones and tablets are the fastest selling products, depending on each retailer, and that is expected to turn as the new iPhones are going to be sold on Saturday.

Retailers expect the new iPhones to bring in more volume and value, and smartphones may again become the best product at this year’s event.

“Definitely, the iPhone will bring in more volume and value as there is huge demand. It remains to be seen whether lot of the buyers go to the Shopper or to the stores to get it. From the malls, definitely there will be huge sales,” said Nadeem Khanzadah, head of omnichannel retail at Jumbo Group.

Smartphones is still number one category for Jumbo in unit sales but when considering the value, laptops are number one.

“Till Thursday, the crowd was much lower than last year. From Friday morning, we are getting a decent crowd. The next two days of sales can be compensated for the deficit in the last five days,” he said.

With salespersons in coloured uniforms handing out leaflets every 50 metres or so and thumping music blaring out from every stall, entering the hall is something of a sensory overload.

Bhatnagar said the show has been good so far and going by the trend the last two days are going to be important for the retailers. “We are expecting to sell more products over the next 48 hours than we have done in the previous six days; that is how important the last weekend is for retailers. We are keen to liquidate products and customers are keen to buy more products; it gets very crowded and we try our best to satisfy everyone,” he added.

But it is not just retailers anticipating a successful conclusion to this year’s Shopper. Consumers are also enthusiastic about securing a big bargain.

The promotions and bundled offers are paying off, with electronics chains reporting a boost in revenues compared with last year’s event.

Some retailers are selling two phones for the price of one and this is changing as the crowd is getting bigger and bigger.

Deals and prices are going to change every hour or so on Saturday.

By Naushad K Cherrayil Staff Reporter

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