What makes a TV stand out from a sea of others hanging from a retailer's wall or sitting on a showroom floor? What makes dealing with one manufacturer different from another?
We recently spoke to executives from the major TV vendors to find out what makes their sets unique and to learn about the latest dealer programs and marketing initiatives they're rolling out to the retail channel.
In the first part of our series we asked the executives to name the three most important technologies they've incorporated into the new lineups, how will those help retailers make more money, and in what ways their marketing strategies have changed. Go to Dealerscope.com for the full interviews and check out the August issue for other parts of the discussion.
Jonas Tanenbaum, vice president of marketing, flat panel TV, Samsung: Clearly, the launch of our new LED lineups and the technologies incorporated into these new series is the most important technology for Samsung right now. All of the key attributes of these new products - stunning picture performance, ultra-slim 1.2-inch form factor, high level of interactivity and eco-friendliness - are things consumers are looking for in a TV purchase.
At the same time, these models command a higher average selling price vs. non-LED sets; a price positioned not beyond the reach of many consumers. The retail sell-through volume for LED is very strong and indicates that consumers are willing to move up to the better technology and feature sets. Consumers get a highly satisfying, cutting-edge product and retailers sell a premium product.
Bob Perry, executive vice president, Panasonic Consumer Products Group: The first is SD Card. All our displays, all our disc players and all our HTIBs have SD interfaces, along with all our cameras and camcorders. There's a huge convenience story there, having to do with easily moving content. SD makes TV the world's largest picture frame. It may not seem like the sexiest of technologies but it allows the retailer to demonstrate it and have the chance to make add-on sales.
The second one is our IPTV VIERACast feature. We believe that once it's demonstrated, consumers can easily see the value and step up to those models that include that capability. We think the IP feature fundamentally changes the game for retailers, and they all need to get used to explaining and selling it. And as we upgrade the VIERACast service, all TVs, HTIBs and Blu-ray players are upgraded automatically, as all connect to Panasonic's server.
|ony was the first in the US with RGB LED backlighting with the Qualia line in 2004 an more recently with XBR8 both lines used Trilominous LED technology and more recently XBR8 featured local dimming which put it up to par with the best September at CEDIA 08 Sony was the first to market with Edge LED technology with KLV40ZX1 TV monitor