Live voting at inaugural awards ceremony for the middle east ce & it retail channel.
Middle East / Paris, 8 May 2008: The special select committee made up
of key members of the vendor and retail community in the Middle East
has announced the nominee shortlist for the region’s first Retail
Academy Awards. Spearheaded and hosted by DISTREE Events, the
organisers of leading Information Communications Technology events in
the EMEA region, the inaugural Middle East Retail Academy Awards will
take place during a gala dinner on the evening of the 20th May at Le
Meridien Al Aqah, Fujairah – the exclusive venue for this year’s DCC
where over 300 attending executives from the sectors vendors,
distributors and retailers will vote live for the winners.
“The nominees for the retailer categories were selected by
representatives of a cross-section of over 20 vendors and leading
regional distributors to ensure that the awards truly acknowledge the
best in each field based on very clear criteria,” commented Farouk
Hemraj, CEO and co-founder of DISTREE Events. “Similarly, a wide cross
section of retailers from across the Middle East selected and
shortlisted the vendors they felt deserved to be on the nomination list
in the eight vendor categories. We are very grateful for the time the
members of our select committee have given us to create a final
shortlist of nominees for each category.”
Vendors have been assessed on a number of criteria including channel
strategy, inventory management, margin potential, marketing,
merchandising, training and support. Retailers have been evaluated
based on their contribution to the industry including customer
satisfaction, sales growth, corporate social responsibility,
profitability, store experience, vendor relations, innovation and
service levels.
“We believe that it is important to recognize the achievements of the
retailers and vendors that were able to differentiate themselves in the
retail segment, which has been growing phenomenally in the Middle East
during the last five years driven by changing lifestyles and income
growth in the region,” said Sherifa Hady, Consumer Business Manager,
Imaging and Printing Group, HP Middle East. “Not only do these awards
acknowledge the innovation and the brilliant work done to meet consumer
needs, but they also pave the way for continued excellence in this
industry for the region.”
The nominee short list:
Vendor categories (voted by retailers)
Retail vendor of the Year-Desktop/Notebooks: Acer, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, HP, Toshiba
Retail vendor of the Year-Peripherals: Belkin, Imation, Sandisk, WD, Apple
Retail vendor of the Year-Accessories: Belkin, Genius, Logitech, Microsoft, Targus
Retail Vendors of the Year-Mobile Phones: HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson
Retail Vendors of the Year-LCD/Plasma TVs: LG, Panasonic, Philips, Samsung, Sony
Middle East Retail: Overall Vendor of the Year: Acer, HP, HTC, Nokia, Sony
Special Achievement for Outstanding Retail Channel Development: HTC, Lacie, Microsoft Xbox, Sandisk, WD
Retail Vendors of the Year-Retail Channel Manager of the Year: Anil Warang Country Manager UAE, Toshiba
Brad Whatmough, ME Retail Manager, Dell; Kiran Nair, Retail Marketing
Specialist, Imation; Satya Rangadam, Retail Sales Manager, Acer; Wael
El Chami, Retail Account Manager, HP
Retailer categories (voted by vendors)
Hypermarket / Big Box Retailer of the Year: Carrefour; Jarir; Lulu; Sharaf DG; Emax
Mall-based / Specialist Retailer of the Year: i2; Jacky’s; Jumbo; Plug-Ins; Virgin
Store Concept of the Year: Compume; Emax; Eon; Jacky’s Express; Sharaf DG
Best Retailer for Marketing / Promotion: Jacky’s; Jarir; Plug-Ins; Sharaf DG; Virgin
Retail Executive of the Year: Ashish Punjabi, COO, Jacky’s; NR Ganesh,
Heavy Household Department Manager, Carrefour; Hussni Chamout, Regional
Retail Director, CompuME /i2; V. Manoharan, VP Purchasing, Jarir
Bookstore; Nilesh Khalkoo, Director, Sharaf DG
Distributor category (voted by retailers)
Retail Distributor of the Year: Delta; Emitac; ITE; Redington; Source IT
More than 300 senior executives from the region’s top CE and IT-focused
vendors, retailers and distributors will meet later this year at
Digital Consumer Channel (DCC) Middle East and Africa (MEA). Digital
Consumer Channel (DCC) is the ultimate professional networking event
for senior executives from the consumer electronics, digital device and
ICT products retail channel in the Middle East & Africa (MEA)
region.
Details on the show are available at www.dcc-mea.com .
