I.T. Show (March 2009)

Like most years, I would take time off to go to the I.T. Show. Especially with the recession, I was curious to see what are the offers given and how much lower retailers would be willing to slash the prices. I was definitely not the only one thinking along this line.

According to the newspaper reports, the I.T. Show, which was held at Suntec City Convention center from 12th March to 15 March 2009 drew a crowd of 768,000 people generating a record S$58.5 million of sales. It surpassed last year’s 735,000 strong crowd and previous revenue of S$54.5 million. This growth in spending was partly fueled by the show participants’ decision to scale back on profit margins and give higher discounts. In fact, from the feedback I got from friends who went during the first two days, it was already unusually crowded with people looking for bargains.

When I was there on Saturday, the increase in the number of people at the event can be felt easily. It was much more crowded than past years. Human traffic was congested even before we reach the convention center. The carpark was already full by 3pm. As it may be hard to imagine the extent of the crowd, here is a photo of the first floor of the convention center taken on Saturday, 14th March 2009.

Its a little blur as I couldn’t hold my camera straight while being pushed around….

Reports from the local newspapers said that the crowd seemed to be worse on Sunday, the last day of the show.. If Saturday was already so crowded, I can’t imagine the situation on Sunday. Police had to be called in to regulate human traffic all the way from City Link Mall. Furthermore, a number of gadgets were already sold-out by 7pm on Saturday. I don’t know if they were able to re-stock.

Looking at those news reports, I am sure glad I did not go on the last day.