LAS VEGAS — The most critical industry issues
dogging CE retailers — profitability, channel management
and what to do with all those stores — may
be finally coming to a head in 2012.
According to the top merchants who comprised
this year’s TWICE Retail Roundtable, earningsstrained
manufacturers must do more to differentiate
their product lines and channel partners; dealers
must do more to present a seamless online, in-store
and mobile shopping experience; and everyone
needs to rethink how to display, explain and monetize
the new generation of dazzling but low-margin
connected devices.
The provocative panel was held here on the first
day of International CES; what follows is an edited
transcript that allows readers to “listen in” on the
closed-door debate.