As part of Dealerscope’s annual buying group roundtable, group directors shared their views on the potential profits and overall importance Ultra HD 4K TV will have on the independent CE retailer channel. Follow Dealerscope.com for more outtakes from the interviews.
DEALERSCOPE: How important will Ultra HD TVs be to the sales and profits of your members this year? What will margins look like?
Bob Hana, Managing Director, HTSA: Any new technology that creates buzz and adds to the overall home entertainment experience and excites consumers enough to make them want to better understand how it works and how they can integrate it into existing electronics systems also excites our members. Ultra HD TV is one of these technologies.
HTSA members expect to position Ultra HD displays as an exciting, new technology that provides a demonstrable improvement in picture quality. But the display can only perform at its best when combined with the content, audio, control and other automation systems being integrated into homes. Home technology specialists will need to review source material and A/V equipment to ensure their customers have everything they need to take full advantage of the capabilities Ultra HD offers. That’s where their expertise comes into play: creating and selling the complete, optimal experience.
We will focus on larger-screen-size solutions that offer greater margins and vendors who provide profitable margins and reward our members’ investment.
Jeannette Howe, Executive Director, Specialty Electronics Nationwide: It presents a new margin opportunity. When you have a display facility, which nearly all our members have, having a good-better-best lineup allows you to sell more of the good and better. So yes, we’ll have UHD as the best, and yes, it may be out of the realm of possibility for your typical consumer, but it will allow us to showcase the better TV sets in that environment, which will help sell larger screens more effectively.
Average margins will be better. Bigger screens are our opportunity, because we have consultative selling floors and display facilities we need those margin-heavy products. It will also take other products with it. When you’re selling larger TVs, people are likely to add the audio experience to them. Our dealers need to be displaying this, even if it’s just one flagship piece; it will help everything else in the store sell. And it is demonstrably better. You can see the difference on big screens. And they’re starting at 80 inches plus. But it will help sell more 60-inch TVs.
