Hani Suwwan, the Business Development Manager for MENA at HyperX, speaks to Gadget Voize about how people buy technology today

How has the technology/consumer electronics buying experience changed in recent months? Do you see more people buying online or offline from tech retail stores?
Due to COVID, there has been an increase in online purchasing which we have seen continuing as people feel more comfortable buying online. To help accommodate this, tech brands have been adapting their online stores to provide the best purchasing experience to customers with brand stores being one of the clear examples of this.

As restrictions start to ease there will be an inevitable shift to consumers coming back to offline shopping. Whether it’s retail or etail though, HyperX will endeavour to make an enjoyable and smooth shopping experience for our community and consumers.

Do brand stores still add value to the overall shopping experience?
With offline shopping, customers get to see a range of models in one place and get the opportunity to compare or test products to help make their decision. However, with online shopping, this opportunity is lost to the consumer. Thankfully with brand stores, it gives the customer the option to compare products on one page based on preferences such as features, price, reviews, etc. This helps make the online buying experience far more enjoyable and streamlined for the consumer.

If you were to list out the top five factors that people look for while shopping for tech products/consumer electronics/home appliances, what would those be?
When it comes to what we see customers seek, often near the top of the list is the quality to price ratio and making sure they are getting value for their money, this also falls into the durability of the product they are buying, both in the design of the product as well as good warranty protection/customer care post product purchase; making sure the consumer trusts the product and brand.

We also see the desire for product comfort, particularly with our headsets. Reviews both via tech and lifestyle media as well as customer reviews are an important part of the process when making considered purchases and finally, having local availability and where possible local layout products is an incredibly important factor, which we have started to cater for with our first Arabic layout keyboard the HyperX Alloy Origins Core.

How high do people rate after-sales service these days?
We have noticed that our customers are very keen on engaging with after-sales services. Our regional social media accounts have been buzzing with interaction, both from customers looking for support for products they already own or those inquiring about various other products. People no longer look at companies as service providers but as partners that join them on their gaming experiences.