In my more than 2 years of stay here in the Lion City, I've already witnessed 10 blockbuster Electronic Shows and most of the time, I ended up a victim... a happy victim at that :) IT Show, PC Show, COMEX, SITEX call it whatever you want but they all serve one purpose, to give the consumers the best deals in Electronics and sometimes even more than that. My Macbook, iTouch, External HDs are just some of what I have purchased from these events. And just last Thursday, I got my latest toy from SITEX 2010 :D Will post a separate entry for that ;)
Anyways, I decided to write this entry to share my observations to this quarterly events. And hopefully give some potential buyers on how the business works. Hmmm... let me list down the points:
1. Are the prices really cheap? There are different views to answer this question and I will try my very best to give an accurate answer as much as possible.
As a Filipino, the first question that pops into my mind before buying any electronic item is: is it cheaper here or in Manila? And 99% of the time, the answer is YES, it is much much cheaper here than anywhere else (I think) :D
If I wouldn't care about the Php price, then, the next thing to find out is if the price offers are really discounted. Meaning, it is much less compared to the regular price when I buy it from their store outlets. And 90% of the time YES, the prices are at discounted rates. Maybe you would ask, how about the remaining 10%? Let me explain in the next point.
2. If the they don't give discounted prices for their items, what benefits should I get then?
PERKS. Lots of perks :) Take for example this: buy a laptop computer and get a laptop bag, free memory upgrade, a printer and a warranty extension. Or buy a digital camera and get a camera case, tripod, SD cards and screen protector. Buy an LCD TV and get a free blu-ray player. Sounds great, isnt't it? :D
And you can even join lucky draws if you meet the minimum required purchase.
BUT....... here are some precautions before spending your precious money:
1. Don't be fooled by the magical words from these salesmen who will tell you that when you buy their product, you get to save hundreds of dollars. How? Here's a perfect example. They will offer you a 42-inch LED TV with a net price of 1800sgd. In addition to this, you will get a free HDMI cable, a video camera and a 50-sgd worth of voucher.
But wait! Try to check the actual regular price of the TV set from other stores or on the internet you will be surprised that it is even 500 or 600 less than their published rate. YES! I personally checked that one out before. In the end, your actual savings is not the actual figures you thought you got. Surely, you'd still get some price cut-off but not as much as what you thought it was. Good thing, I did not fall to their trap :D*
*Note: this one is just from one store, I did not bother to check from other stores anymore.
2. Most stores offer very attractive price deduction but, these same promos are being offered to their store outlets as well. So if you would do your homework, you might realize that there's no need for you to go to the exhibit and switch faces with different strangers just to get the brush off you wanted. You might probably get the same offer from their mall branches :)
With this post, I hope I can give a little help to those who've been asking information on how things are going during these events. And eventually, more savings to our hard-earned money :)
