Sony unveils first ‘new concept’ store in Dubai

The Dubai showroom was launched in association with Jumbo Electronics that will offer superior experiential platform to engage customers.

Jumbo, the UAE-based consumer electronics giant, will open three more ‘new concept’ stores in the UAE next year, according to its top official. While Sony Gulf chief said this new concept will be expanded to other countries in the region shortly.

The new showroom was inaugurated by Kiyoshi Shikano, senior vice-president of global sales & marketing, Sony Corporation, along with Osamu Miura, managing director, Sony Gulf, and Deepak Khetrapal, chief executive officer of Jumbo Electronics.

Located within the Jumbo’s Mall of the Emirates store, the showroom provides customers with a unique destination to explore the complete Sony experience, and enhanced pre- and post-personalised shopping and aftersales care within a new brand design concept.

Some of Sony’s latest technologies and products that are showcased in the Middle East & Africa (MEA) for the first time include, Personal 3D Viewer, 3D Binoculars with full HD recording, Room Link that enables DLNA connection of various products and content.

“This Sony store will showcase all our latest products and technologies and also provide an opportunity for entertainment content such as movies, music, games to be demonstrated and experienced,” Shikano said at the launch.

Testing and measuring new marketing methodologies in partnership with the customer will be another hallmark of this store, he added.

Designed to offer customers three distinct zones, the remodeled showroom features a section dedicated to displaying the entire range of Sony products, another displaying the latest promotions and the third zone exclusively for consumers to experience, test and play with gadgets.

Jumbo, the distributor of Sony’s consumer electronic products in Gulf, has lined-up three more ‘new concept’ stores in the UAE next year. “One we have already done and another three stores in the next six months,” Jumbo’s Khetrapal told Khaleej Times at the launch. He mentioned that Abdu Dhabi and Dubai are in focus for the next three stores.

“Dubai Mall is on the cards, but in terms of sequence we still have to decide what comes first,” he said, adding that Hamadan Street in Abu Dhabi and Dubai Mall are under consideration.

Regarding the new concept store, he said: “Through this signature showroom, we hope to engage our customers with a fascinating experience of Sony’s innovation and amazing array of products.

“The Sony concept store further reinforces our commitment to offering the best-in-class value for discerning customers with market-leading customer-service. We share a great relationship with Sony and look forward to celebrating more milestones in the near future,” he said.

Jumbo, which has 31 stores in the UAE and four in Oman, will expand to other Gulf countries for retail segment, but waiting for right and appropriate space.

Jumbo managed to grow with single digit in 2011 for Sony products despite March tsunami in Japan and Thailand floods that affected production of consumer electronics giant.

“This year we have growth, but that is lower single digit growth. It’s actually affected by the disturbance in the supply chain because of tsunami early this year and then the Thailand floods,” he said.

Jumbo witnessed strong double-digit growth in overall sales in the first nine months as its financial year ends in March.

“We had very strong growth overall in Jumbo retail sales this year. Some categories were affected because of supply chain in Sony brand we had very strong growth in IT products including VAIO,” he said.

He mentioned that total Jumbo retail sales is more than 11 per cent compared to last year. Regarding next financial year, he said it will start in April next year and its’ too early to predict. Jumbo enjoys market share between 20 to 25 per cent in consumer electronics market of the UAE, according to Khetrapal.

Sony Gulf’s Osamu said the next step will be to target other markets in the region for the same new concept stores. He mentioned that Sony was expecting a lot this year but because of tsunami and Thailand floods the growth in sales is so far single digit.

abdulbasit@khaleejtimes.com