Retail’s Role in Expanding the Connected Home Ecosystem

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It’s an exciting time for the connected home category as sales move beyond entry-level products to more advanced offerings that work together to form a connected ecosystem. Within this ecosystem, products are creating a sense of modernization for consumers—devices are talking back to users and communicating with other devices to make homes more efficient and comfortable than before. This shift translates into big opportunities for retailers, who should be planning for how to consultatively sell products that interconnect, as the smart home category continues to grow. Retailers who select core products that work together and add in the right peripherals can help consumers create a true connected ecosystem. Due to these new possibilities with technology, now is the time for retailers to map out a plan for gaining connected-home market share.

 

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New Age Summit Encore To Be Held At … The Encore

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New Age Electronics, the national CE and gaming distributor, will reprise its annual Retail Dealer Summit this summer at the Encore Las Vegas.

Now in its seventh year, the three-day conference features product exhibitions, educational sessions and keynote speakers, as well as networking opportunities with top retailers and vendors, and presentations by industry experts.

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Dealerscope Distributors Roundup: Goals and Strategies for the Year Ahead

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21ST CENTURY DISTRIBUTING

Vanessa Zitzmann, Marketing & Sales

21st Century Distributing is gearing up for our annual Integration Innovation Roadshow, being held in May. The show focuses on the integration of our industry’s products and aims to help our dealers step up into that larger-profit job. New this year is an extra day at each location to accommodate trainings from our vendors. We are also looking forward to moderating dealer forums during the lunches to allow the dealers to bounce and share ideas with each other. For the duration of 2017, education is going to be our focus!

ALMO

Jack Halperin, Senior VP, Dealer Channel Sales

As business and related vendor promotional activities have become more frequent and complex, we have added brand specialists at our headquarters. They coordinate efforts between our vendors, buying staff and broader sales organization, which allows us to provide more individualized attention. Most importantly, they distribute critical business information more frequently, which helps our dealers merchandise appropriately throughout the year, to maximize their sell-through results.

AUDIO AMERICA

Jonathan Elster, CEO

In 2017, we have planned three dealer shows and seven trainings. Our shows provide an opportunity for our customers to attend vendor trainings as well as see product from over 50 suppliers. At this year’s shows, we plan to provide seminars on how our dealers can maximize social media an expand their e-commerce presence. We also plan to hold five customer roundtables where we meet with a select group of dealers to discuss areas of growth and opportunities and how we can become a better partner. Some of the trainings we have planned this year include LG, Lutron, RTI, Luxul, Hikvision and NEST. All of these trainings offer our customers an opportunity not only to learn about the product but to purchase product at a discount. Our #1 objective is to help our customers be successful and to provide them with new avenues of profitability.

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Hey Dealers: The Smart Home Is Knocking And Distributors Can Let It In

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Let’s face it, any dealer worth his or her weight in TVs and appliances knows that the connected home is coming, if it’s not already here. And just like the New York Lottery, you gotta be in it to win it.

Problem is, like any emerging technology it’s an untamed mess of incongruous standards and platforms, and placing your bets too soon could prove deleterious.

Enter the distributor, the champion of virtual inventory, just-in-time delivery and e-commerce fulfillment, who is ready and willing to sort things out. Just as they have done with new PC operating systems, A/V technologies and assorted protocols, these manufacturer intermediaries can help guide retailers through the IoT maze in order to avoid the pitfalls of a nascent category.

TWICE contacted a host of leading two-step lights to shed some illumination on the pathway. Here’s what they had to say.

Dennis Holzer, executive director, PowerHouse Alliance: Today, consumers are demanding products they can control with their smartphones or tablets, so almost every day new products enter the smart-home market.

It’s an ongoing priority for the PowerHouse Alliance to seek out new relevant products and add them, as we have recently done with Zigen, Hikvision and KEF. We continue to bring on new lines across the smart home and other categories, and as we bring them on, we equip dealers with the knowledge to sell and install those products.

Every once in a while a product innovation causes a ripple effect in determining the next generation of products across the industry. Voice control is the latest technology proving to be a game-changer for CI dealers. My advice to dealers is to embrace voice control and ensure you have the right product mix, knowledge and expertise to sell and install these control systems and compatible devices.

I also encourage dealers to offer networking products to build a strong and reliable network for customers that can handle the number of smart devices they have. Both of these categories will be critical to dealers’ success this year and in the future.

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Subscriptions Are Key to Unlocking Smart Home’s Spoils

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After several years of head-spinning innovation and much pondering, retailers and manufacturers are starting to make sense of the smart home. Much of it revolves around monetizing the business through a recurring revenue model and the advent of voice control — most notably through Amazon’s Alexa artificial intelligence technology — as a common and consumer-friendly IoT platform.

That smart-home is on the minds of merchants is an understatement, as the subject consumed much of TWICE’s Executive Retail Roundtable this year. In this last of a series of panel excerpts, top industry retailers, distributors, buying group execs (and one leading industry analyst) tackle the connected-home category.

On the need for a new revenue model

Dave Workman, ProSource: The biggest thing, and one of our key initiatives this year, is to basically bring a recurring revenue model into this product.

TWICE: Will this be with a third-party partner?

Workman: This is a combination of everything. The key for the customer, whether it’s a very simple system or an elaborate system is there are a lot of diagnostics that can go on remotely. You can’t afford to roll a truck for somebody to put in a $500 Dropcam or repair a Nest thermostat if something goes wrong, and so there are services obviously, and we are working to try to combine it.

The industry will resemble the security industry where you have a low frontend ticket and ideally you get some sort of recurring revenue piece that comes into the model that allows the system to continue to operate. The key is how you develop the quality of the service that goes around that. It can’t just be in the event of a crisis we’ll be here. You have to bring value that customers see.

It has to be rebooted, and there are so many things that people don’t realize, like you have to unplug your cable box occasionally because it builds up resistive qualities, and all of that stuff that people just don’t realize. Those things can all be automated if done correctly. The companies are all working on it, and then there are call center tech supports like PlumChoice and some of the other names that you know. We are pretty excited, and we’re getting close to the finish line on the project.

The TWICE Executive Retail Roundtable. Standing from left: Alan Wolf, TWICE; Neal Martinelli, HSN; Mary Campbell, D&H Distributing; Dave Workman, ProSource; Fred Towns, New Age Electronics; Dene Rogers, RadioShack. Seated from left: Tom Hickman, Nationwide; Laura Orvidas, Amazon; Ryan Ciovacco, Sears Holdings; Steve Baker, The NPD Group [Read more…]

New Age Electronics Expands Home Appliance Offering through Agreement with RAYCOP

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Leading distributor brings Japan’s leading allergen vacuum line to the North American retail channel
CARSON, Calif., Feb. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — New Age Electronics, a leading distributor of consumer electronics and gaming products and services and a division of SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), announced today that it has signed an agreement with RAYCOP, a leading consumer health product manufacturer, to distribute its top-selling allergen vacuums to the North American retail channel. The agreement expands New Age Electronics’ home appliance offering and makes the RAYCOP RS2 and RAYCOP LITE products available to its network of retail customers. In Canada, RAYCOP is available through SYNNEX Canada Limited’s consumer electronics group. In addition, the agreement has applications in the commercial channel in areas such as hospitality in both the US and Canada.

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“We are pleased to bring Japan’s leading line of allergen vacuums to North America through our agreement with RAYCOP,” said Fred Towns, President, New Age Electronics. “RAYCOP’s products ultimately help people lead healthier lives by creating a cleaner home environment, eliminating allergens, and providing an overall improved quality of life. The agreement allows retailers to add a new alternative to regular vacuums that meets the needs of consumers looking to buy high-quality cleaning products for the home.”

RAYCOP combines leading technology and innovative design, delivering a unique product set that easily integrates into the consumer lifestyle. The product line is especially relevant to the millions of adults and children susceptible to common allergies and other respiratory disorders. RAYCOP allergen vacuums use patented RayClean Technology® to remove allergens from fabric surfaces three times more effectively than other brand-leading vacuums. With a dual-filtration system incorporating a high-efficiency particulate air filter, ultraviolet light, optimized suction and pulsating pads, RAYCOP eliminates most common bacteria and viruses, as well as pollen and allergens produced by dust mites.

“Our team is excited to work with New Age Electronics to significantly expand our global footprint while making RAYCOP products more widely available to North American consumers,” said Hirobumi Suzuki, CEO, RAYCOP North America. “Following the momentous success among our Asian customer base, we are confident that people across the US and Canada – especially those who suffer from allergies – will find great value in making their homes cleaner and healthier with the RAYCOP product line.”

New Age Electronics’ agreement with RAYCOP comes in addition to the manufacturer’s relationship with SYNNEX Infotec Japan, which began in 2011.

To learn more about RAYCOP through New Age Electronics, call (800) 947-5974, email mikemu@synnex.com, or visit www.newageelectronics.com. Interested Canadian retailers can contact SYNNEX Canada’s consumer electronics group by calling 514-745-1690 ext. 508919 or emailing jenniferd@synnex.com.

About New Age Electronics
New Age Electronics, a division of SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), is a sales and supply chain solutions innovator that provides consumer technology (CT) manufacturers with a broad offering of logistics, distribution and remanufactured services. Extensive experience in the CT industry and a customer-centric approach has made New Age Electronics the provider of choice. New Age Electronics distinguishes itself with efficient operations and relentless focus on customer satisfaction. Founded in 1988, New Age Electronics is headquartered in Carson, California. For more information about New Age Electronics, call (310) 549-0000, toll-free (888) 234-0300 or visit the company’s website at www.synnex.com/nae.

About SYNNEX Corporation
SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), a Fortune 500 corporation and a leading business process services company, provides a comprehensive range of distribution, logistics and integration services for the technology industry, as well as outsourced services focused on customer engagement strategy to a broad range of enterprises. SYNNEX distributes a broad range of information technology systems and products and also provides systems design and integration solutions. Concentrix, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SYNNEX Corporation, offers a portfolio of strategic solutions and end-to-end business services around customer engagement strategy, process optimization, technology innovation, front and back-office automation and business transformation to clients in ten identified industry verticals. Founded in 1980, SYNNEX Corporation operates in numerous countries throughout North and South America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Additional information about SYNNEX may be found online at www.synnex.com.

About RAYCOP
Founded in 2005, RAYCOP is a leading consumer health product manufacturer focused on improving consumer’s quality of life with innovative products that help people breathe and sleep better. Headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, RAYCOP has more than 500 employees and is the number one selling home allergen vacuum in Japan with more than four million units sold to date. RAYCOP products are currently sold in many countries around the world and in 2016, RAYCOP strengthened its global presence with the addition of a North American headquarters in the San Francisco Bay Area, CA. RAYCOP is widely recognized as the premium brand and pioneer of allergen cleaning devices. To learn more, please visit www.raycop.com.

Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this release that are forward-looking, such as product features and capabilities and the success of the collaboration, involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause the Company’s actual results in future periods to be materially different from any future performance that may be suggested in this release. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release.

Copyright 2017 SYNNEX Corporation. All rights reserved. SYNNEX, the SYNNEX Logo, CONCENTRIX, NEW AGE ELECTRONICS, the NEW AGE ELECTRONICS Logo, and all other SYNNEX company, product and services names and slogans are trademarks or registered trademarks of SYNNEX Corporation. SYNNEX, the SYNNEX Logo, CONCENTRIX, NEW AGE ELECTRONICS and the NEW AGE ELECTRONICS LOGO Reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off. Other names and marks are the property of their respective owners.

SNX-G

To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-age-electronics-expands-home-appliance-offering-through-agreement-with-raycop-300408022.html

SOURCE SYNNEX Corporation

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New Age Electronics Expands Home Appliance Offering through Agreement with RAYCOP

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New Age Electronics, a leading distributor of consumer electronics and gaming products and services and a division of SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX), announced today that it has signed an agreement with RAYCOP, a leading consumer health product manufacturer, to distribute its top-selling allergen vacuums to the North American retail channel. The agreement expands New Age Electronics’ home appliance offering and makes the RAYCOP RS2 and RAYCOP LITE products available to its network of retail customers. In Canada, RAYCOP is available through SYNNEX Canada Limited’s consumer electronics group. In addition, the agreement has applications in the commercial channel in areas such as hospitality in both the US and Canada.

[Read more…]

Whither Wearables, and What Else Lies Ahead in 2017

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The following is an excerpt from the latest installment of TWICE’s Executive Retail Roundtable, in which we gather some of the best and the brightest in tech retail to address the state of the industry. Join us for a deep dive into the challenges facing the retail business today:

TWICE: What technologies do you find exciting? What would you like to see on the CES show floor that maybe isn’t there yet?
Steve Baker, VP, industry analyst, The NPD Group: There’s something that isn’t on the show floor?

Dave Workman, president/CEO, ProSource: I’m going to the Amazon booth because I want to personally meet Alexa.

Laura Orvidas, CE VP, Amazon: She’s great.

Neal Martinelli, merchandising VP, HSN: I want to see smart home. It’s a big focus for us. It was a huge category for us last year. Alexa is that magic thing that gets people to wake up to the possibilities. The water is warm and I can turn it up to a boil, but I need the products and I need them to work right and I need the simplicity.

Read the full article on TWICE.com

Through the Looking Glass with AR/VR

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The following is an excerpt from the latest installment of TWICE’s Executive Retail Roundtable, in which we gather some of the best and the brightest in tech retail to address the state of the industry. Join us for a deep dive into the challenges facing the retail business today:

TWICE: What lies ahead for VR and AR, from both a product and a retail experience standpoint?
Neal Martinelli, merchandising VP, HSN: We’re looking at that right now, VR and AR, not only from a consumer perspective but just for entertainment. It’s going to be everywhere; it’s going to be very pervasive. I think you’re going to see a lot of advancement very rapidly over the next year or two on both fronts.

Read the full article on TWICE.com

Just How Good Were Holiday Sales At Retail?

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The latest installment of TWICE’s Executive Retail Roundtable, in which we gather some of the best and the brightest in tech retail to address the state of the industry, revealed an optimism about 2017 and the prospects for such categories as Ultra HD TV, connected home and virtual and augmented reality systems. Join our deep dive into the challenges facing the retail business today:

TWICE: Let’s start with the holidays, and you in particular Laura, because Amazon described it as the best holiday season in the company’s history. How much of that can you take credit for?
Laura Orvidas, CE VP, Amazon: All of it — my own holiday shopping contributed. [Laughter.]

We had a great holiday season. A lot of our success was buoyed by Echo and the other Amazon devices. We saw a lot of customers come and interact on a variety of our products.

TWICE: “Millions sold” was Amazon’s official statement, but do you have any hard numbers on the Alexa devices?
Orvidas: Nine times our previous holiday season.

Mobile shopping was also very hot. Over 72 percent of Amazon customers worldwide shopped using their mobile devices, and on Cyber Monday alone customers purchased 46 electronic items per second on a mobile device.

Read the full article on TWICE.com