Vendors on Wednesday expressed mixed feelings about business prospects at the upcoming annual Hong Kong Computer & Communications Festival.

The four-day fair, set to start on August 22 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, will feature more than 200 local and overseas exhibitors, which is about 100 fewer than last year.

Lok Ki-ki, marketing manager of Winco, the city’s sole distributor of products by American router company Netgear, said it is taking a cautious approach to this year’s sales targets.

“We hope we can keep the same amount [of sales] like last year and hopefully it won’t be dropping a lot,” she said.

“Well, in general, the economy is kind of dropping down and it's really a tough environment for us and especially for gadget items and industries.”

The company plans to showcase more middle and entry-level products at its booth to boost sales, she added.

Another booth operator echoed the same cautious outlook, predicting sales would be 20 percent lower than last year.

“It’s really according to the reaction of the public. When there are new product launches in this year. Even when Nvidia launched new graphic cards, the sales didn't bump up too much,” said Saaleh Hafeez, product manager of MSI, which mainly sells gaming laptops.

“And the other reason is that this year we don't have any good game titles. So previously when there are good titles coming out, people will tend to go and purchase new laptops. But this year we didn't see this trend.”

Some firms, meanwhile, remain optimistic, including Belkin, an American company that sells consumer electronics products.

Associate director of marketing Crystal Chu said they expect a 10 to 20 percent year-on-year sales increase.

“Because recently we found out that there are quite a lot of accidents in the market. Lots of battery packs got into accidents, like explosions,” she said.

“And we realise that it's a very good opportunity for us to educate the customer and to let them know that we have the safest power bank or battery pack in the world.”

The company is so confident about sales, it has put extra money into securing a prime booth at the fair, Chu added.

Good Century, an authorised distributor for American memory card and USB drive company Sandisk in Hong Kong and Macau, also anticipates a sales increase of about 10 percent.

To boost sales, many vendors said they will offer promotions at the fair, such as price cuts of more than 50 percent on a limited number of products and “buy more, spend less” deals.

The Chamber of Hong Kong Computer Industry added that it has also introduced more diverse content to the fair to attract visitors from different age groups.

Highlights include a forum on AI trends, an e-sports competition, and a meet-and-greet session with the popular Taiwan-based cheerleading group Rakuten Girls.

Nintendo will set up a booth featuring a gaming experience zone where visitors can try its new Switch 2 console.

This year’s fair will support 22 electronic payment methods, including Octopus, PayMe and cryptocurrency.

Standard admission tickets for the fair are set at HK$35, while entry is free for tourists, children under 1 metre tall, people aged over 65 and holders of disability cards.