Retail Middle East draws excellent response from industry leaders

About 80 per cent of the exhibition space has already been sold out well over a month before the show.

The three-day event, which will make its debut at Expo Centre Sharjah from April 18 to 20, will feature over 100 leading suppliers, major manufacturers and players in the retail industry.

The exhibit profile includes retail concepts, shop fitting & store equipment, visual merchandising, signages, POP, store design, retail technology & equipment, logistics and security systems.

It is being organised by Expo Centre Sharjah in association with National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers (NASFM), USA, and Point of Purchase Advertising International (POPAI), USA, and with the support of the Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI).

Retail Middle East is making its debut at a time when the retail sector in the region is experiencing unprecedented growth due to the booming GCC economies.

In the UAE, the retail sector is worth over 30 billion dirhams and a major contributor to the country's GDP.

As per a recent survey of shopping centres carried out by the UK-based Retail International in the GCC region, some 3.8 million square metres of retail space has already been completed with 2.2 million square metres under development.

There is an additional probability of 600,000 square metres and the possibility of a further 2.8 million square metres. The overall potential is around 9.4 million square metres, according to the survey.

The main concentrations are Dubai (631,000 square metres) Jeddah (595,000 square metres), Abu Dhabi (460,000 square metres) and Riyadh (411,000 square metres).

A major development that has impacted the regional retail industry as a result of this expansion in retail space is the intensification of competition among retailers.

They are now being compelled to adopt new strategies to counter the cut-throat competition and maintain their leadership edge.

It is with this purpose that they are now becoming more conscious of issues like customers' search for individuality, customisation of services and store design details, among other things.

Keeping this requirement of the regional retail industry in mind, Retail Middle East will showcase a range of retail display and shop fittings including backroom equipment, wood/glass/metal/wire fixtures, gondolas/hangers, merchandise storage systems, showcases, vending and automatic machines, shopping carts and baskets, mobile sales points, dispensers, freezers, refrigerated food display cabinets, warehouse fittings and equipment, heated display cabinets, food processing and packaging machinery and cold room and deep-freeze rooms.

The visitor profile will comprise supermarkets/hypermarkets, department stores, shopping centre managements/ developers, convenience stores/forecourts, speciality retailers, food service retailers, consultancy firms, advertising & promotion agencies, interior designers, FMCG importers, distributors & wholesalers, fixture & fittings importers/distributors/ wholesalers and franchisors/franchisees.

Some of the participants include Umdasch Shop Fitting-Germany, Caddie-France, Otto Kind-Germany, MW Security-Germany, BY1 Displays-Australia; Grottini Shopsystems-Italy; Tensator-UK; Merlun-Group SAL-Lebanon, Mycom Solutions-UAE; Costra Advertising-UAE; Panasonic Gulf-UAE; Otto Kind AG, Barcode Gulf LLC, Signtech Display Systems-Egypt, Specialized Software Services-UAE, Hondeal Pte Ltd.-Hong King and Onsite Promotion-Greece, among others.

The Retail Professionals Conference will be held on April 18, 2005, alongside the Retail Middle East show where well-known industry experts will discuss key issues and latest developments relating to the retail trade.

The conference aims at equipping the retailers to compete effectively in a market which is experiencing an unprecedented growth. The name of the game is retaining customer loyalty and increasing visitor footfall.

It will also assist retailers in the region develop more effective cross-channel sales strategies, improved supply chain management and new information markets by sharing knowledge, exchanging views and keeping themselves updated of the industry trends.

Retail Middle East will be held at Expo Centre Sharjah from April 18 to 20 and the show timings are from 10am to 6 pm.