A busy day 2 with over 1200 one on one meetings during the course of the event
The 12th annual DISTREE Middle East draws to a close today, with 500-plus delegates departing after three-days of one-on-one meetings, conference sessions, awards and professional networking opportunities in Abu Dhabi. This week’s event gathered senior executives and buyers from the region’s leading consumer technology retailers and e-tailers in one place at one time. During the three-day event, exhibiting vendors and distributors, representing hundreds of consumer technology brands, held thousands of pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with buyers from across the region.
Farouk Hemraj, Director and Co-Founder at DISTREE Events, said: “We want to thank all the sponsors, exhibitors, distributors, retailers, e-tailers, speakers and media that attended this year’s event. The pace of change in consumer technology retailing continues to accelerate in the Middle East. In a disruptive industry, the need for business transformation is constant.”
“DISTREE Middle East is more important than ever as a platform for consumer technology brands to hold high-level discussions with senior retail executives in a business-focused environment. With thousands of meetings pre-scheduled prior to the event and 200-plus senior retail executives in attendance, we’re committed to delivering a business development platform that appeals to all consumer technology brands,” he added.
DISTREE Middle East 2016 was supported by Platinum Sponsors Linksys and Redington; Gold Sponsor Max Electronics; Silver Sponsors Brightstar, CTRONIQ and Lime Concepts; Technical Partner Acer, and Event Partners GfK and NAGHSH. Content Providers at this year’s event included Azur Digital, CONTEXT, GfK and SixthFactor Consulting.
Retailers and e-tailers from 16 countries are present, giving exhibitors a cost-effective and efficient opportunity to promote themselves on a regional basis. This year’s event included more than 20 retailers from Iran, giving exhibitors an opportunity to meet key retail buyers from a country that offers huge growth potential for consumer technology products in the years ahead.
“We were delighted to welcome a significant number of retailers from Iran to DISTREE Middle East,” added Hemraj. “Moving forward, we will continue to offer a range of services and event platforms that allow consumer technology brands to develop in-country routes-to-market and channel presence in Iran.”
DISTREE Middle East 2016 also hosted the second annual DISTREE Diamond Awards in the region. The recipients of DISTREE Diamond Awards were determined using on-site feedback from retailers at the event. The DISTREE Diamond Awards covered 10 separate categories.
The event also included 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 saw the addition of a new award category: Retail Executives of the Decade. Based on extensive polling of the regional channel community, three executives received this prestigious accolade: NR Ganeshan, Carrefour; Nadeem Khanzadah, Jumbo; Dikran Tchablakian, Tecbuy.
The popular ’60 Seconds to Convince’ Awards also took place on the main stage at DISTREE Middle East, giving exhibitors an opportunity to deliver a one-minute elevator pitch for their latest product to the entire event audience. The winners across three categories were determined by live electronic voting. Lechal secured the Best Product Design Award for its haptic footwear, with IRIS picking up the Best Product Innovation Award for its IRIScan Mouse 2 WiFi product. Clikon walked away with the Best Presentation Award for its Air Chef product.
More than 100 consumer technology brands were 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 also participated to meet key accounts in the region and identify new prospects in the retail channel.
DISTREE Middle East offered all delegates a compelling mix of pre-scheduled meetings, keynote speeches, workshop sessions, awards and professional networking opportunities. For more information on DISTREE Middle East 2016, visit www.distree-me.com. Follow @DISTREE_MidEast for event updates on Twitter.
