Sri Lanka’s biggest IT shopping festival at Unity Plaza on Sept. 2-8
Branded laptops, desktop computers, printers, computer peripherals with warranty could be purchased at prices as low as up to 40 per cent (of the normal rate outside) at Unity Plaza – Sri Lanka’s only mall for domestic IT operators and multinational giants.
For example, a unit costing Rs 100,000 outside could be purchased at Unity Plaza at Rs 80,000 or below.
All the dealers in IT products operating at Unity Plaza Bambalapitiya, after 17 years of their operations have come under one umbrella to organize the IT Shopping Festival to be held from 2 to 8 September spread over the Plaza’s 10 storey building. To explain the modalities of the event a media briefing was held last week at the Unity Plaza.
On the sidelines of the media briefing, Fahim M. Hashim, an organizer of the festival and an IT dealer told the Business Times (BT) that the era of selling IT duplicates and duping the ignorant customers are fast diminishing in Sri Lanka. He said there is a move to bring in regulations to restrict the sale of imported secondhand used computers in Sri Lanka.
Officials at the briefing
He told the BT that the genuineness of the products sold at the Unity Plaza is 100 per cent assured. Plaza dealers are able to provide customers these products at low prices because ‘overheads’ are comparatively low compared to large scale dealers outside.
One of the setbacks in computer usage could be the under-utilization of its range of facilities in-built as some users do not have the required knowledge to operate it and thus these machines sometimes become defective due to improper use. When Mr Hashim was told that the after-sales arrangements of some agents of reputed products are somewhat unsatisfactory, he said that there may be certain issues in the service units of these agents.
In Sri Lanka, he said that unlike in some other countries, the clture of taking defective computers to service centres is not practiced and most opt to take it to the dealer. On the other hand they are not authorized to remove any parts. They are required to submit the original to the authorized dealer for repairs. He told the BT that the major reason to organize this Shopping Festival is to expand the services of Unity Plaza, provide value added services and educate Sri Lankan IT users that here is a ‘one-stop-shop’ for anything and everything on IT.
Mr. Hashim said that this is the first time all the dealers are making a concerted effort to expand Unity Plaza services and tell the IT users in Sri Lanka that here all the products sold are genuine and all their requirement could be obtained from one place.
At the conference, Viranga Malawana, Event Coordinator said that the event is not only about value bargains, but also enables the younger generation to get acquainted with the latest IT innovations on offer.
Indika De Zoysa, Country Business Manager, Intel ME Ltd, Sri Lanka said that they are partnering with the IT Mall in its unique ‘IT Shopping Festval’ and wished to work alongside their technology partners. He said that Intel continuously strives to provide consumers with the best and the latest that the tech world has to offer.
Unity Plaza is the only place a customer can walk in to choose a product of their choice, bargain, feel them and buy them off the shelf, said Mohamed Naushad, Chairman, Tech Zone.
The event is sponsored by International IT giants like Intel, Microsoft, HP, Samsung, Lenovo, Epson, Canon and Toshiba.
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