Your browser is out-of-date!

Update your browser to view this website correctly. Update my browser now

×

TWICE 3D 2010 Panel: In-Store Demos Will Drive 3D Sales

New York – Vendors and retailers
have faith in the adage “seeing is believing” when it comes to up-selling
consumers on 3D TV.

That was the consensus of a diverse
panel of industry experts, including Sony executive VP Mike Fasulo, Panasonic
senior VP Bob Perry and Sixth Avenue Electronics operations VP Tom Galanis, who
discussed the consumer experience at the

3DTV2010
Event

, at the Roosevelt Hotel, here this morning. The event was presented
by TWICE and fellow publications from parent company NewBay Media —
Broadcasting & Cable, Digital Video, Multichannel News, TV Technology and
Videography.

The panel, hosted by TWICE executive
editor Greg Tarr, was one of several presentations and panels at 3DTV2010 by TWICE
and sister publications spanning the broadcasting and TV production industries.

“It’s all in the demo,” said
Galanis, whose 18-store A/V chain extends from New York to Delaware. “If you
give customers a compelling presentation with good content and audio, most will
buy into it.”

Sell-through at Sixth Avenue has
been good so far, he said, as have sales for Panasonic. “Several thousand
retail stores have demos now,” Perry noted, “and sales are doing pretty good.
They’re meeting our expectations.”

Sony will begin offering 3D TVs this
summer, Fasulo said, but it has already performed 1.6 million demonstrations in
its Sony Style stores. “Consumer acceptance is very high,” he told a
standing-room-only crowd. “Consumers are very receptive to it after a good demo
experience.”

Nevertheless, challenges remain,
cautioned Ross Rubin, industry analysis executive director for The NPD Group.
The greatest barriers, according to consumers themselves, are the need for
glasses and the perceived high premiums for the 3D TVs and content, he said.

Fasulo countered that the bigger
issue is the incompatibility of glasses between brands, which could create
confusion on retail sales floors. “No one wants a bad in-store experience. If
we don’t do it right, we won’t eat the fruits of opportunity.”

That opportunity is shaping up to be
an equal one between channels, TWICE’s Tarr noted, with Fred Meyer rolling out
Samsung 3D TVs to its hybrid discount/grocery stores in the Northwest, while
Walmart prepares to carry 3D sets by the end of the year.

“We need to figure out how to adopt
the demos to different retail floors, particularly after the recession,” Fasulo
acknowledged.

Another challenge, said panelist
Jeff Cuban, VP of HDNet, Magnolia Pictures and Landmark Theaters, is that “not
all content works across all screens.” Concerts fared poorly in tests of
various 3D content, he noted, while sporting events appeared to do well. He
said HDNet is presently shooting episodic short-form 3D content that limits the
amount of time viewers must wear glasses, and believes the potential for home
viewing is “huge.”

“You can have the same experience as
in the theaters,” he said. “I’m optimistic that 3D will be profitable for
everyone.”

Featured

Close