Retailers batting for cricket-loving IPL fans

As the frenzy surrounding the Indian Premier League cricket matches continues to draw in thousands of Asian tourists to the UAE, retailers at Gitex Shopper are buoyant of cashing in on the tourism growth to drive sales across the four-day IT consumer bonanza that starts today.

Running at the Dubai World Trade Centre until April 26, the first innings of the Spring edition in 2013 generated an estimated Dh93 million in sales across the four days, attracting 123,720 visitors that cashed in on the unrivalled range of gadgets offered at unbeatable prices, coupled with bundle offers to create a buying frenzy.

With cricket-loving overseas Indians flocking to the UAE this month to catch few of the 20 matches the country is hosting, Ashish Panjabi, COO of Jacky’s Electronics said it would generate a positive impact on the Gitex Shopper in retail sales.

He said: “We expect the ongoing IPL matches will draw a large number of tourists to the Gitex Shopper in the coming days and will impact positively on retail sales.”

Speaking about the buyer profile, he further said: “Historically, Indian and Pan Arab expats are the biggest buyers at Gitex Shopper every year, followed by the Filipinos. We have yet to draw a significant number of European and Chinese tourists to the retail event.

“With this profile in mind, coupled with the fact that consumer electronics are priced relatively higher in India compared to the UAE, we do expect to see tourists take advantage of the Shopper to snap up bargains in the smartphones segment, along with tablets and laptops.”

Quizzed whether the Indian import tax on consumer goods would dissuade the expat shopper, he further added: “That import duties have largely affected sales in the television category, but the smaller, impulse buying still continues to draw in Indian tourists.”

The UAE is playing host to 20 IPL cricket matches, across Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah, with one local tour company official stating that 45,000-50,000 visas have been issued for Indian tourists since the sporting event kicked off on April 16.

India is considered as one of the UAE’s top source markets, with Dubai attracting 888,835 Indian hotel guests, up 16.3 per cent over 2012 according to numbers released by the DTCM tourism body, while Abu Dhabi welcomed 175,929 guests and a 27 per cent year on year increase according to Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority.

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