HOME Tablets take bite out of PC pie in MEA
Fast-growing tablet sales in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region are eating into the PC market. PC shipments in MEA for the first quarter of 2013 hit 5.3 million units, according to IDC. This represented a 14.1% year-on-year decline as the shift towards tablets gathered speed. Desktop sales in the first quarter slipped 18.4% year-on-year to 2 million units with notebook shipments sliding 11.2% to 3.3 million units. Tablet sales are booming with IDC claiming that some power retailers are now selling more tablets that notebook PCs.
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Axtrom eyes retail channel expansion
Computer peripherals, accessories and tablet PC brand Axtrom will participate in DISTREE Middle East 2013 next month as it looks to expand its regional retail channel coverage. Mohamed Samy, business development director at Axtrom, said: “DISTREE Middle East is the perfect forum for us to meet potential distributors, resellers and retailers. Our main reasons for attending the event are to increase our brand exposure, expand our retail network, demonstrate our products and highlight their difference from other competitive brands.”
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Middle East ICT and consumer electronics (CE) retailer Emax Electronics, part of Landmark Group, has expanded its presence in the UAE emirate of Sharjah. Emax has opened two new stores in Sahara Centre and Sharjah City Centre malls, taking its total number of UAE outlets to 15. The retail chain will have 50 stores operating across the Middle East by the end of 2013, according to Neelesh Bhatnagar, founder and CEO at Emax.
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European retailer Dixons has announced an agreement to sell Swedish retail operation Webhallen to Norway-based e-commerce outfit Komplett for US$21.5m cash. Webhallen, based in Sweden, predominantly sells media, games and related products from 10 stores as well as online. The transaction is expected to complete by the end of May. Webhallen was a subsidiary of Dixons’ Pixmania business.
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M.video sales climb in first quarter
Russian retail giant M.video has reported total sales up 12% year-on-year for the first quarter of 2013 at US$1.38 billion. The company opened nine new stores in the first quarter pushing its total selling space in Russia to 544,000 square metres. M.video’s like-for-like store sales were up 2.2% year-on-year. The retailer saw a 69% year-on-year increase in online sales, which hit US$50.7m in the first quarter of 2013.
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Elko extends Kingston rights in Russia
Distributor Elko Group has expanded its agreement with memory vendor Kingston and added the vendor’s solid state drives (SSDs) to its portfolio in Russia. Elko has distributed a wide range of Kingston products in the Baltic States since 2009. The company picked up Russian distribution rights for Kingston ValueRam in July 2012 and this agreement has now been extended to include SSDs.
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Printing solutions vendor Epson has opened its first Saudi Arabian office as the company looks to expand its operations and channel reach in the Kingdom. The new office is located in Riyadh’s Al Olayya Street. Hiromi Taba, president of Epson Europe, said: "The Saudi Arabian market is vital to Epson’s ambitious expansion goals in the Middle East, and being the biggest market in the region it was imperative that we have a strong presence in the Kingdom.”
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Ukrainian distributor MTI has added Energizer products to its vendor portfolio. Under the terms of the agreement MTI will become the exclusive importer of Energizer products into Ukraine. The range of Energizer products carried by MTI will include batteries, charging devices and torches.
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SpendWisor.com confirmed for DISTREE Middle East
UAE-based e-tailer SpendWisor.com has confirmed its participation at DISTREE Middle East, which takes place in Abu Dhabi from 21st to 23rd May. DISTREE Middle East is a business-focused event that unites ICT and consumer electronics (CE) vendors, distributors, retailers and e-tailers for three days of pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings. SpendWisor.com is one of a growing number of e-tailers operating in the region set to attend this year’s channel development event.
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UAE-based e-tailer JadoPado has tripled its sales year-on-year. Revenues for the year ending March 31st 2013 hit US$4.3m as consumer showed an increasing propensity to purchase online. JadoPado’s website attracted 210,000 visits in March 2013. For the year ending March 2013, the number of site visits almost quadrupled year-on-year to 1.2 million.
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