DUBAI: While the trade show portion of GITEX Technology Week was quite depressing compared to previous years, GITEX Shopper 2008 was an unequivocal success. The largest and most popular technology retail event in the Middle East was packed on Thursday and Friday. Heavy advertising of prizes and special prices proved too much for Dubai's residents to ignore and the Dubai Airport Expo was overwhelmed with consumers last weekend.
On Wednesday afternoon, HP's consumer team advised Arab News that they had already met their GITEX Shopper targets. HP had decided to forgo its usual stand at the trade show and instead had invested heavily at the GITEX Shopper. It was a tactic that paid off handsomely. The IT giant not only supported its channel partners but also had a stand where its consumer products were featured, supplemented by attractive booklets and product catalogs touting how HP products could “Stretch your imagination without stretching your budget.”
“Our objective was to give the visitors at GITEX Shopper the HP experience and support our partnering retailers. In all, I believe we have been very successful in achieving our goals and are very happy with our decision to participate at the event. The footfall has definitely been very good and the buzz and excitement around the HP stand has just been excellent throughout the show,” said Anil Kumar, GM, Personal Systems Group, HP Middle East.
Other tech vendors echoed that sentiment.
“We are very delighted with our participation at GITEX Shopper this year. Our retailers are experiencing very good sales. The Studio Notebooks are especially doing well, proving very popular, with pieces just flying off the shelves. It looks like that by the end of it, this might be the best GITEX Shopper ever,” said Bard Walthmore, Head of Consumer Marketing at Dell for emerging markets.
Not only were the tech vendors delighted, but their channel partners rang up astronomical sales that will ensure an excellent bottom line when the books are closed on this year. Jacky’s Electronics, a multi-brand consumer electronics retailer, posted its highest record with an approximate 60 percent sales increase during GITEX Shopper. The most in-demand products at Jacky's during the event were notebooks from Sony Vaio, HP, Dell, Toshiba and Acer, contributing to nearly two-thirds of the total sales. The gaming products and consoles were also a runway hit thanks to the company's participation at the GITEX Digital Game World.
“At this year’s GITEX, we have seen a variety of shoppers coming in not only from Dubai but also from Abu Dhabi, Al-Ain and Sharjah. There were also more expatriates and GCC visitors particularly Omani nationals who visited GITEX to buy the latest technological products in the market,” said Jimmy Patel, GM, Jacky's Electronics.
The discounts at GITEX Shopper were not as large as two years ago and some of the merchandise came with less than the latest specs. However, retailers made up for that by putting together attractive bundles and also offering giveaways and lucky draws. Jacky’s gave away three Acer Netbooks every hour. HP offered a chance to win $50,000 in cash, plus other prizes for every customer who spent AED400 on any HP products. Every AED1,000 purchase at i2's stand earned customers “scratch and win” cards. Toshiba advertised that its customers could win, “a million dirhams worth of prizes at GITEX Shopper.” Few could resist buying to try their luck.
Not only did the retailers at the shopper do well, but every ICT retailer in Dubai tried to cash in on the event. Distributor, Sharaf DG opted out of GITEX Shopper this year, but the retailer ran in-store promotions at all its outlets throughout the Emirate. The company put out a statement that they had done very well, with record footfalls in Sharaf DG stores and an increase in net sales by 80 percent over the GITEX Shopper period last year when Sharaf DG participated in the Shopper event. Last Friday, Sharaf DG did its highest ever single-day turnover with the sales being almost 200 percent of its average Friday sales.
Gamers didn't fare as well at GITEX Shopper. GITEX Digital Game World, a platform designed to cater to the fastest growing segment in consumer electronics, was a big hit. Unfortunately, at the end of the event, gamers from the Middle East still weren't able to make their mark on global gaming. The GITEX Digital Game World Competition title was won by the “Assassins List” team from Abu Dhabi who won in the local e-Gaming tournament, beating all participating teams from the UAE. Team members Abdullah Al-Muhairi, Ahmed Al-Suwaidi, Ali Rashed Al-Muhairi, Hassan El-Hamawi and Reyadh Al-Nuaimi, won a combined prize worth AED20,000 in cash, certificates and trophies. Sadly, they lost in the competition against the global e-Sports elite.
This means that now all the Global Challenges are over and the slot distribution for the Intel Extreme Masters Global Finals has been completed. Europe claims the most, while Americas settles one extra, and Asia is still working with their automatically given ones. Find out more about the upcoming competition at www.esl-world.net/masters/news/68138.
