Now that connectivity is finally upon us — as evidenced by last month’s Consumer Electronics Show and the marketing of A/V products by PC stalwarts CompUSA, Dell, Gateway and Hewlett-Packard — retailers are scrambling to be first on the block to catch the convergence wave.
In a recent flurry of announcements, top CE retailers led by Best Buy and Good Guys have revealed plans for or unveiled actual prototypes of a new generation of stores and services that will help consumers connect their disparate digital devices while delivering incremental dollars to dealers.
“No one has ever demonstrated how this all works together,” observed Best Buy senior VP George Danko, whose vision of a wireless sales floor may be the blueprint for the next generation of CE specialty retailing.
