The 11th annual DISTREE Middle East begins today with more than 500 delegates registered to attend the three-day event. DISTREE Middle East runs from May 12th to 14th at the Fairmont Bab al Bahr in Abu Dhabi, UAE. DISTREE Middle East gives technology and consumer electronics (CE) brands a unique opportunity to hold pre-scheduled one-on-one meetings with senior executives from the region’s most influential retailers and e-tailers.
Farouk Hemraj, Director and Co-Founder at DISTREE Events, said: “More than 1500 one-on-one meetings have already been pre-scheduled between delegates at DISTREE Middle East 2015. Hundreds more will be arranged on-site during the next three days. We thank all delegates and sponsors for their continued support of the event.”
“DISTREE Middle East remains the most efficient way for all technology and CE brands to enhance their relationships with the volume retail channel. Many new brands are looking to build reach in the Middle East retail channel. We continue to see strong levels of innovation in emerging product categories such as wearables and smart home solutions,” he added.
DISTREE Middle East 2015 is supported by Huawei, Linksys and Quantum as Platinum Sponsors; Acer, Brightstar, Gadgitech, HP and Max Electronics as Gold Sponsors; plus Ctroniq, June, Mercantile and TP-LINK as Silver Sponsors. Samsung is Retail Innovation Sponsor at this year’s event.
DISTREE Middle East 2015 will also see the introduction of the 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 17 separate categories.
“We’re very excited to launch the DISTREE Diamond Awards in the Middle East,” added Hemraj. “The retailers and e-tailers that attend our event have a wealth of knowledge and understand which brands and products have a compelling market proposition. The winners of the DISTREE Diamond Awards will be companies that retailers can be confident of doing business with. These new awards will serve as a true mark of channel excellence,” explained Hemraj.
DISTREE Middle East also includes a comprehensive conference programme with a mixture of keynotes, panel discussions and awards sessions. Focused workshop sessions will include speakers from Event Partner GfK; Content Partners Extrius, FFD, Navo and Quadmark; as well as Media Partner Channel EMEA. This year’s event will gather 200 retail executives, representing more than 110 retailers and e-tailers from across the Middle East, to meet with more than 200 executives from vendors and distributors.
“DISTREE Middle East is a highly focused trade event,” added Hemraj. “It is also an opportunity for vendors, distributors and retailers to discuss the current trends impacting the market. There is a collective desire among delegates to drive the overall growth of the Middle East retail market and accelerate the adoption of new products.”
“The Middle East retail channel remains extremely dynamic with the growth of e-tail and the need for brands to create multichannel go-to-market models. DISTREE Middle East gives all delegates the chance to create and define new growth and margin opportunities for their business,” Hemraj continued.
DISTREE Middle East 2015 unites all the major channel stakeholders in the volume technology and CE retail channel in one place at one time, providing a powerful platform for channel business development. From start-ups to established A-brands, the event continues to deliver a wide range of business benefits for all participating exhibitors.
