Executive Insight
Expert Insight on the latest consumer electronics from the editors of TWICE Magazine
SiBEAM's CEO on IFA and CEATEC 2009
This year I attended both IFA in Berlin and CEATEC in Japan to promote SiBEAM and WirelessHD, as well as to keep my finger on the pulse of the consumer electronics industry in general.Overall, I find trade shows to be a key component of any company’s business development, networking and marketing strategy. In addition to U.S.-centric industry shows and given the fact that we have products ...... Read More
Comments (0)Windows 7 Launch Starts Here!
As Windows 7 begins its assault on the consumer retail marketplace today, so far, despite a few questionable decisions, the marketing, merchandising, and retail preparation appear to be clicking on all cylinders. Since I’m not a product reviewer I can’t comment on how “insanely great” Windows 7 might be, but I can give Microsoft kudos for the preparation and f ...... Read More
Comments (1)New Opportunities in a New Economy
The 2009 ENERGY STAR Appliance Partner Meeting The 10th annual Energy Star Appliance Partner Meeting drew a record number (more than 200 in all) of manufacturers, retailers, utilities and other energy-efficiency advocates, all eager to capitalize on the Energy Star message in a weakened economy. The meeting focused on two themes. The first theme: Additional appliance rebates are coming soon in eve ...... Read More
Comments (1)Consumers Want Multi-room Wireless
To date, wireless systems have played a small role in the distribution of HD video content within the home. This is in stark contrast to many other use cases, where wireless products have become strongly preferred over wired solutions, to the point where some wired solutions have nearly disappeared (e.g., telephones).Recently, a number of wireless solutions are promising to deliver compelling HD v ...... Read More
Comments (7)Customer Support Critical To Success
In today’s market, no company can afford to lose customers due to lack of focus on critical touch points, including customer support. In the PC/CE and retail industries, a company will not survive if it focuses solely on its bottom line without recognizing the value of acquiring (and keeping) customers. What companies must consider in the overall cost of support and service is the lifetime ...... Read More
Comments (0)Using Customer Conversion Insights to Drive Sales Performance
OK, you purchased traffic counters, had them installed in your stores and started collecting data -you may even have some interesting graphs and charts to show for your investment, but now what? How do you turn this data into better sales results? The hardest part of the process - “consuming” the insights and turning them into practical actions that lead to better sales perform ...... Read More
Comments (0)Let’s Call It What It Is – It’s Sales!
It seems like everybody wants to “repackage” or “re-brand” sales these days. They call the process anything and everything but “Sales”. It also seems that everybody wants to re-title salespeople anything other than “Salespeople.” They are referred to as “Customer Service Rep”, “Customer Relationship Advisor”, ...... Read More
Comments (4)WirelessHD For Home A/V Networks: Available Now at a Retailer Near You
The idea of sending video and audio without wires is easy to understand. From the first land-based analog broadcast towers to modern digital satellite dishes, wireless has been one of the best and most popular ways of distributing media content from the service provider to the home. Once the content enters the home, however, the idea of wireless media goes from being a natural and ubiquitous inter ...... Read More
Comments (0)Customer Conversion: How Many Sales Did You Lose Today?
Even in good times, consumer electronics retailers live on the edge - razor-thin margins, unrelenting competitors, fickle consumers. When times are as difficult as they have been in 2009, weak retailers simply close their doors, and the good ones cut expenses and hold their breath waiting for the storm to pass. As difficult as times are, you would assume that retailers would do everything they cou ...... Read More
Comments (6)Think globally, Act Locally
In these economic times, retailers and manufacturers are pursuing opportunities in many arenas, although these opportunities are not as readily apparent as they once were. The continued need to grow sales in a saturated, and perhaps declining, landscape where traditional technology growth levels are no longer realistic is forcing those retailers and manufacturers with foresight into more granular ...... Read More
Comments (0)Make a Clean Change with Energy Star
Lani MacRae is the Energy Star communications manager for the U.S. Department of Energy. In my last blog, I recommended that refrigerator and freezer retailers point out to customers how much it costs to operate an old unit. The costs are surprisingly high. (The operating cost of a refrigerator or freezer manufactured before 1993 is more than double that of a new Energy Star-qualified model; ...... Read More
Comments (0)Image is Everything
Today’s consumers are faced with many different choices for their digitally connected home. Additionally, consumers must deal with the problem of simplifying the increasingly complex home entertainment set-ups — with TVs, set-top boxes, DVRs and gaming consoles. That said, after ease-of-use and seamless operation, consumers care most about image quality when buying a new HDTV or A/V ...... Read More
Comments (2)
