Dubai: The fourth edition of the Abu Dhabi Electronics Shopper (ADES) is set to open doors tomorrow (November 25) with exclusive promotions and offers by some of the UAE’s power retailers.

Antoine Georges, managing director of Dome Exhibitions, organisers of ADES, said that retailers are targeting Abu Dhabi consumers with exclusive offers that are available only at the four-day event and not at their (retailers) outlets in the city.

“We are expecting footfall to increase by 20 per cent compared to last year. The timing of the show is apt, keeping in mind the festive month leading to year end, travel plans and the weather,” he said.

Last year, 60,000 visited the venue and generated Dh35 million in sales.

Sharaf DG, Emax, Plugins, Jacky’s Retail, Pluto Games, Samsung, Huawei, Hisense and Alienware are participating in the four-day event which ends on Saturday.

“Smart watches are something which are gaining a lot of traction and interest from consumers across the region. We have Samsung Gear S2 as our official ‘Timekeeper’ for ADES 2015. Till now the time keeper concept was limited to major sporting events with brands like Rolex (Wimbledon) being the Official Time Keeper. We are the first in ADES to get this across to our IT vendors and showcase to consumers that smart watches are here to stay,” he said.

Emax Electronics has sold 15,000 smart watches — Gear S2, Huawei and Apple Watch — in the last one month.

“We are seeing a strong demand for smart watches as wearable devices are gaining traction in the region,” said Neelesh Bhatnagar, CEO of Emax Electronics.

He said that large platforms such as these have become vital for economies and ADES, too, has established itself as a strategic platform for Abu Dhabi’s booming consumer electronics sector which year on year has only given rise to retailers, further boosting the emirate’s rapidly developing economy.

According to Dubai Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s report, sales of consumer electronics in the UAE are expected to rise to Dh14.58 billion by 2015, compared to Dh11.53 billion in 2011, one of the largest in the Gulf.

Adnec has tied up with Uber, the app-based ride-booking service, to avoid parking issues at the venue.

“Transportation and parking at the venue [Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre] was a big challenge and in a bid to avoid that, we have tied up with Uber as the ‘Transportation Partner’. We are providing free Dh50 x 2 Uber rides to/from Adnec venue by downloading the Uber app and entering the promocode - ADES2015,” Georges said.

He said customers do not need to buy any products from the venue to avail of the Uber ride.

And given that ADES is a hotly anticipated date on Abu Dhabi’s expo calendar, Jambu Palaniappan, regional general manager for Uber Middle East and Africa, said that an association with them [Adnec} made sense, giving us the chance to connect with visitors to the exhibition by offering them an authentic experience that defines what the Uber brand is all about.