eXtra scoops award for ‘Retail Marketing Initiative of the Year’ from the Middle East Retail Academy

06/16/2012

• Retailer wins award for month-long "Women’s Festival"

Khobar, Saudi Arabia; June 16, 2012: United Electronics Company (eXtra) announced today that it has received the award for “Retail Marketing Initiative of the Year” from the Middle East Retail Academy (MERA). Saudi Arabia’s fastest-growing consumer electronics and home appliance retailer collected the award at Gala ceremony in Fujairah, UAE.

The award, which is open to all ICT and consumer electronics retailers operating in the Middle East, is judged by a jury of experts based on a number of criteria, including innovation, creativity, sales performance, impact on margin, footfall created and overall market impact.

The campaign offered women free training programs like photography and computer courses, from our partners as well as discounts to specialized training centers. Various products targeted at women were also offered at discounted prices all and all catering to the female segment needs. The campaign was hugely successful in achieving its objectives, with eXtra’s top of mind awareness among females as the Kingdom’s number one electronics retailer increasing by 16% in just one month. Similarly, visitors to the company’s website increased by 25% during the campaign period. The impact of this increased brand awareness was clear in eXtra’s bottom line, with sales in March increasing by 17% compared to the previous month.

eXtra received the award in recognition of its month-long “Women Festival,” an integrated marketing campaign targeted at females in the Kingdom. The campaign featured a specially produced commercial which aired on major TV channels over a two week period; press adverts; digital marketing on key websites visited by women; a dedicated page on the eXtra website; a flyer which was distributed to one million women across the Kingdom; as well as heavy in-store branding.

Usama Bukhari, Expansion Director, United Electronics Company (eXtra), said: “We have studied the needs of the female segment to understand what was missing from their shopping experience and upon learning their requirements we created an event catered especially for them. Our ‘Women Festival’ is a case in point. This promotion helped us build a stronger relationship with the female segment and in return, they rewarded us by shopping at our stores. By utilizing multiple channels to create a completely female-focused campaign, the festival enabled us to enormously increase our brand visibility among women in the Kingdom, which translated into a huge increase in footfall and sales through our stores. Through our fresh and innovative approach, eXtra has transformed the home appliance and electronics retail space in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

Currently, eXtra provides the over 10 million customers it serves annually with more than 12,000 products across its 25 stores in Saudi Arabia. In addition, eXtra recently introduced its online shopping portal (www.extra.com), the first fully fledged electronics and home appliance website of its kind in the Kingdom.