Dubai: UAE retailers may soon find it is a lot easier to stock their shelves with the latest in technology.

Several board members from the Consumer Electronic Association, which this year sponsored HomeTech Middle East 2007, said the organisation was interested in helping develop the region's consumer electronics retailing.

"The CEA would like to have this whole region be more accessible to the companies it represents," said Kathy Gornik, a board member of the CEA.

Randy Fry, president and co-founder of Fry's Electronics Inc, one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in the US, said Dubai's location as a commercial hub was a factor in its decision to come to the city.

"That fact that there is over a billion-and-a-half people within a two-hour plane ride makes it a very attractive place to do business," he said.

Other than just giving CEA members greater inroads into the region, Fry said the organisation could also help established retailers by giving them access to manufacturers.

At a meeting with local retailers last week, Fry said one retailer asked how to keep up with Dubai's growing demand for consumer electronics.

Fry said he could empathise. In 1985, Fry started his company in the Silicon Valley and has addressed many of the problems Dubai retailers are facing now.

"There is nothing more embarrassing than being a consumer products retailer, and having a customer come in and ask for a product that they are fully aware of, that is available on the internet or with a competitor, and you can't sell it to them. That is the worst," he said.

Fry also said the CEA would provide a way for retailers to sit down with manufacturers to increase the number of products available and to also help retailers avoid getting stuck with old, and usually unsellable, technology.

"The alarming rate of change has made it difficult for retailers to keep up," he said. "We've seen in the last year or two retailers being hung because they've had too many of these products, and it hurt their profitability. There are a lot of hard lessons being learned in our industry right now."

Fry said the main products that have caused retailers grief have been flat panel televisions. The rapid increase in optical resolution meant that models would be obsolete in a matter of only a few months.

While many of the board members spoke highly of their first impressions of Dubai, several also spoke about possible hurdles to developing further trade with the UAE. Gornik said she was also worried about legal issues that effect both property and business.

"I'm a huge property rights fan," she said, adding that she thought property rights needed to be secure in order for there to be a long and committed future between the two countries' industries.

Freehold law

The UAE recently passed a freehold property law, which allows the Land Department to grant title deed to owners of individual plots.

Granting full freehold rights gave buyers in Dubai absolute ownership of both their homes and the ground they stand on.

Gornik added that she was impressed with the current business climate in Dubai. "It's a law of nature that money goes where it is treated well. As long as the UAE and Dubai treat money well, there will never be a problem."