DISTREE Middle East 2016 opens with 500-plus delegates attending retail channel event

DISTREE Middle East has opened at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The event gathers hundreds of senior executives and buyers from the region’s leading consumer technology retailers and e-tailers in one place at one time.

During this three-day event, exhibiting vendors and distributors will hold thousands of pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with buyers from across the region.

Customer experience, omnichannel strategy, smart home opportunity, behaviour economics and identifying market growth drivers form part of wide selection of topics covered at the DISTREE Middle East event.

DISTREE Middle East 2016 that takes place from May 10-12th, is supported by Platinum Sponsors Linksys and Redington; Gold Sponsor Max Electronics; Silver Sponsors Brightstar and CTRONIQ; Technical Partner Acer, and Event Partners GfK and NAGHSH. Content Providers at this year’s event include Azur Digital, CONTEXT, GfK and Sixthfactor.

Farouk Hemraj, Director and Co-Founder at DISTREE Events, said: “This is the 12th annual DISTREE Middle East and we want to thank all of this year’s sponsors, exhibitors and delegates for joining us this week. DISTREE Middle East is a powerful business development platform for brands and distributors looking to manage, build or launch routes to market for consumer technology products in the region.”

“We’re bringing together more than 200 retail executives this week to meet exhibitors. The number is up from last year and that reflects an increased presence of retailers from Iran, which is a market where many brands are now looking at how they can start or expand in-country channel relationships and presence,” he added.

More than 1200 one-one-one meetings have been pre-scheduled for DISTREE Middle East using the event’s powerful web platform. Hundreds more meetings will be arranged on site as delegates look to take full advantage of the business networking platform the event format provides. Retailers and e-tailers from 16 countries are present, giving exhibitors a cost-effective and efficient opportunity to promote themselves on a regional basis.

“DISTREE Middle East is a highly focused trade event and is far removed from a traditional trade show,” added Hemraj. “Each invited retailer is pre-qualified by the DISTREE recruitment team ensuring the high quality and relevance of meetings that take place at the event.”

DISTREE Middle East 2016 will also host the second annual DISTREE Diamond Awards in the region. The recipients of DISTREE Diamond Awards will be determined using on-site feedback from retailers at the event. The DISTREE Diamond Awards cover 10 separate categories. The event also includes the ‘Middle East Retail Academy (MERA): 2016 Awards’, which recognise the performance of outstanding retailers and distributors through a combination of executive and company awards.

“This year’s event also includes a new Retail Executive of the Decade Award,” added Hemraj. “The Gala Dinner and awards on the evening of Wednesday May 11th is a great occasion for the region’s retail channel to reflect on their achievements during the last 12 months.”

More than 100 consumer technology brands are represented at DISTREE Middle East including major vendors such as Acer, Belkin, HP, Intel Security, Norton, Panasonic, Parrot, Philips and Toshiba among others. The region’s leading retail-focused distributors are also participating to meet key accounts in the region and identify new prospects in the retail channel.

“Core consumer technology product categories such as PCs, smartphones, tablets and accessories are well represented at DISTREE Middle East as always,” added Hemraj. “At the same time, we’re seeing more brands in emerging categories such as smart home, connected devices, wearables, virtual reality and audio attending as they look to increase brand awareness and expand consumer reach in the Middle East region.”