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The Sony Man

Customers and old friends have been known on occasion to call him the Sony Man. The nickname is apt considering that the UAE headquartered Jumbo Electronics is the one of the largest distributors of Sony products in the world, and D R Bijlani, general manager of Jumbo Electronics Co, Oman has been associated with the Jumbo name for over 28 years now.

With less than a month gone since Jumbo’s first showroom was inaugurated in Oman in the MBD (Ruwi) area, customer response to the renewed promotional and marketing efforts has been good. This seems perfectly in sync with Bijlani’s aim to take the Jumbo name to the top of the retail charts in Oman. In Oman since 1975, Bijlani’s enthusiasm is infectious as he talks about their plans for the sultanate.

“Being in the retail industry today is a surefire recipe for success,” and the idea is to offer customers in Oman the same levels of pricing, service standards and choice that is available in Dubai. Be it the popular ‘Celebrate with Sony’ where a customer can win a 40”Sony Bravia LCD TV everyday or ‘Buy any, win Sony’ scheme or the bundled offer available with every camera or even the Handycam at RO99, joint promotions with hypermarkets or counter sales in their own showroom, the news has all been good so far. “People are really taking advantage of the offers.”

“Purchasing power in the country has gone up significantly as compared to the old times when buying was more seasonal in nature. Today with the easy convenience and facilities of loans at lower interest rates, young people can buy the latest gadgets,” adds Bijlani. There is a shift in mindset from the ‘why’ of the years gone by to ‘why not’ - the retail-happy mantra of today.

Sony LCD televisions have been Jumbo’s biggest crowd-puller so far and cognisant of the intense competition that exists in the market, little touches like having a merchandise representative from Sony present at Lulu (for example) to handle any complex queries is taking that one small step that will pay off in miles. Besides working closely with the hypermarkets, new showrooms are expected to come up in 2008 in Al Araimi Complex here and in Sohar. Another showroom in Salalah is already open. Besides their old partners, Bijlani informs they will also tie up with more finance companies, the idea being to give the best possible deal to the consumer.

Staying in tune with the latest technology is very important for Bijlani. This could even mean taking a sneak peek behind the scenes of Spiderman to understand how the special effects worked. “Every day is a day to learn something new. There are so many developments happening and keeping abreast of new technologies helps me play an active role. Even in terms of dealing with my staff, I like to get personally involved in motivating them to go out and do their best for the brand.”

With almost three decades of experience across product lines, undoubtedly this is the man to lead the Jumbo retail revolution in Oman.