''Should I buy my notebook and camera during Gitex?''

I was on my way to the airport few days ago, when the taxi driver asked me about my job. I told him I was working in the IT industry. Then, he started immediately talking about Gitex and asked me a very simple but tricky question: ''Should I buy my notebook and camera during Gitex?''

This question reminded me that there are still so many people who believe in Gitex offers, which is good for the industry, so I decided to publish this post in order to answer this question for the taxi driver and for so many other UAE residents.

First of all, the IT industry is one of the rare markets where price inflation doesn't exist and where competition is very high. So, you can predict with high accuracy to get equivalent or better prices for any future purchase.
Second, suppliers margins used to be high in the past and they were able to cut them during Gitex in order to make their offers more attractive to the customers.

Today, the first idea remains the same but the second one is less accurate. Suppliers margins are very limited and they can not afford anymore to give important discounts.

So my answer is yes, you can get a better offer in Gitex but you can also get a much better offer after Gitex, especially from retailers who want to liquidate their Gitex unsold stocks.

To summarize, my advise is the following:
1) Select now the product you want to buy
2) Watch the actual prices next week in the retail shops: Carrefour, Sharaf DG, Jumbo and Jacky's
3) Check prices also on online shops
4) Go to Gitex shoppers and verify the prices

If you find a big difference, buy the product. If the price is the same, wait until the end of Gitex because you may get a better offer.