Go Hi Fi!
The entertainment electronic product market in Oman is going through a rapid growth phase, with price levels being at par with those in neighbouring countries

Planning to shop for the best quality home electronics products, for the ultimate in home entertainment? The perfect time to buy them is now as the market is awash with a wide range of top-quality DVD/VCD players, hi-fi, multifunction audio systems, digicams or latest mobile phones, etc.; all waiting for you in the stores.

There is clearly a burgeoning consumer demand for entertainment electronic products in Oman today and all the major players vouch for that. As P V Rao, Senior DGM, Genetco, says, “The digital electronics segment has grown over 400 per cent during the past year.” The booming demand for entertainment electronics has also been accompanied by special promotion offers from retailers translating into a windfall for customers. Devan Thuppali, GM, OHI Electronics, one of the leading retailers of electronics products says, “The growth of entertainment electronic products in Oman market has been amazing over the last few years and under the wise leadership of HM Sultan Qaboos we’re seeing the advent of many large projects in industry and tourism. This has directly contributed to an amazing growth in this sector in Oman.”

MAJOR RETAILERS
The number of dealers in entertainment electronic products is growing by the day in Oman, thanks to the demand for these products that’s going over the roof. Among the major retailers is OHI Electronics, that is the exclusive distributors for JVC, Bose, NEC and Nikai products in Oman. As part of its special offers to encourage buying of entertainment electronic products, OHI celebrating its 30th anniversary, is currently running a Ramadan promotion and is giving away a home maker bundled offer for every RO30 spent in ITS showrooms. What’s more, 30 lucky winners will take home a complete set of JVC 29-inch TVs, JVC home theatre systems, microwave ovens, juicer and blenders and toasters from Nikai.

Another major retailer in the entertainment electronic products is Genetco that deals in plasma/LCD TVs, MP3/MP4 players, digital cameras, DVD recorders, high-end home theatre systems, pro-audio systems, musical instruments, and so on, from a host of international brands like Sanyo, Yamaha, Canon, Iriver, Videocon, etc. Genetco is also offering easy finance schemes and special seasonal offers to trigger buying.

Oman Marketing & Services Company is another big-wig retailer of entertainment electronic products dealing in Panasonic brand, which has a wide variety of entertainment products, especially HDTV (both plasma and LCD under Viera name), digital still cameras (Lumix range), handy cams (E cam range for SD Camera, high definition camera, hard disk camera, DVD camera, DV camera), DVD recorders, DVD players, home theatres, Hi-Fis, radio cassette recorders (RCRs) like two-in–ones, etc.

As part of special offers, George Alexander, Divisional Manager, (Consumer Electronics Division), Oman Marketing & Services Company, says, “We regularly run advertisements to educate the customer on new product arrivals and the technology and feature advancement.”

Emax, a division of Dubai-based Landmark Group, has the largest electronic store in Oman at Muscat City Centre, spread over an expansive 25,000 sq ft. Apart from Oman, Emax stores are also present in UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bahrain. As the largest retailer of electronic product, Emax deals in a galaxy of products ranging from mobile phones, portable MP3/ MP4 players, iPods, portable DVD players, Hi-Fis, digital cameras, handy cams, DVD recorders and players, HD-ready LCD, plasma and projection TVs, sound systems, home theatres, video games, gaming consoles including Playstations, X Box, Nintendo WII, musical CDs/DVDs, cassettes as well as whole range of old and new English, Hindi and Arabic movie CD/ DVDs, satellite receivers, car stereos, audio video recorders, digital photo frames.

Recently, Emax has launched a slew of promotional offers. As Vineet Mehrotra, Concept Head, Emax, Oman, says, “Emax has bundle offers wherein one product comes free with the purchase of another. Secondly, there are offers which are brand specific. Thirdly, there are power retailer specific like Emax exclusive deals wherein certain brands offer exclusive deals for products being sold only at Emax.” Then there is Al-Seeb Technical Est. (SARCO) that deals in LCDs, plasma, and CRT based TVs, Hi Fi music systems, MP3 players, HD DVD Players, camcorders and home theatre systems. As part of its Ramadan sales promotion effort, SARCO is offering ‘Triple Bonanza Offer’ as per which customers will benefit from triple benefits of Scratch-and-win opportunity for every purchase of RO 25 of Samsung products. Apart from this, they would also get fabulous discounts on Samsung products and extended warranties on their purchase during the offer.

CATCHING UP
The UAE continues to be the hub for all new entertainment electronic product introductions. However, with the recent increase in the cost of operations in Dubai, high-end electronic products are no longer cheaper there. As P V Rao, Senior DGM, Genetco, says, “The gap in prices between Oman and UAE is almost bridged. Now most customers for costly high-end equipment prefer to buy from local agents to avail the after-sales support, etc.”

Vineet Mehrotra of Emax also agrees. “Trends are changing and forcing customers to change their opinion that UAE is a cheaper shopping destination. Almost all leading international brands are available in Oman and most of them have adopted pricing strategies in line with UAE pricing. As a result, consumers do not want to take the trouble of going all the way to Dubai/UAE. Secondly, the after-sales service compulsions also force consumers to buy products from local distributors of the concerned brands.”

Ajay Ganti, GM, SARCO says, “The perception still is that UAE offers better products and pricing but gradually the perception is changing with more and more top- notch shopping malls on the rise and the existing ones upgrading themselves to world-class standards. Adding to this, the tendency of both the Omani nationals and increasing expatriate population’s allocation of disposable income towards entertainment electronics among others is increasing. Oman will carve its own niche in the times to come.”

CHALLENGES
However, despite the astounding growth, the burgeoning entertainment electronic product market is facing certain challenges. As Devan Thuppali of OHI Electronics says, “The challenge is to provide customers with a complete solution in terms of proper installation and most importantly impart them with sufficient product training to enable them to use all the features of the product purchased to make them get value for money. Secondly, with the influx of many Chinese brands with ridiculously low prices, educating customers with cost-benefit analysis is a major task.”

George Alexander of Oman Marketing & Services Company says, “Although the demand for entertainment electronics products is picking up, the penetration levels of these products are low in comparison to home appliance products. The rate of growth is extremely high in HDTV, and digital still cameras, but the RCR and Hi-Fi range is slowing down. Further, constant change in technology and educating the customer about the same is the biggest challenge.”

Vineet Mehrotra enumerates the three biggest challenges for the entertainment electronics product market in Oman – tapping the high income customer segment; tapping the floating customer population; and, attracting more media attention and creating a need and awareness.”
 

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