Daniel Todaro, managing director at field marketing specialist Gekko, explains how electrical retailers can make the most of the upcoming summer of sport

With the 2014 Fifa World Cup kicking off on June 12, electrical retailers have a fantastic opportunity to leverage the excitement around the event and turn it into increased sales across their product portfolios.

Not only that, but with Wimbledon taking place during the tournament, and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games c0mmencing on July 23, we’re heading swiftly towards an accidental summer of sport.

Beyond the traditional football-themed, in-store competitions and promotional prices to attract customers in the lead-up to and during these events, what else can savvy electrical retailers do to increase footfall and ultimately drive sales during this exciting time of sport?

The World Cup is set to be broadcast on terrestrial television, which means that it will be available for everyone to watch. However, the time difference between Brazil and the UK may preclude younger viewers from watching the matches taking place later in the evening. This presents the perfect opportunity for retailers to promote sales of smart TVs and PVRs with catch-up services, so that fans can watch games broadcast late at night in the UK the next day at a more feasible hour. Electrical retailers should be promoting top-of-the-range devices with recording functionality like the Freeview HD + to exploit this golden opportunity.

To add to this, electrical retailers must capitalise on the fact that during the World Cup football fans will be looking to follow their teams on the widest screen possible to make themselves feel like they’re part of the action in Brazil, and create a party atmosphere in their homes.

In order to tap into this market, retailers should be promoting big screen-size television sales as the world gears up for the event. With GfK quoting that 60 per cent of global TV sales are over 40in and 36 per cent of those are smart TVs, there’s an opportunity for all. For the first time ever, certain games throughout the tournament, including the final, will be broadcast in 4K. Therefore, in the coming weeks and months consumers will be more open than ever to purchasing Ultra HD TVs, and it’s paramount that electrical retailers get those people through their doors to make these major purchases.

Here retailers should have in store brand ambassadors offering advice on the best devices and recommending 4K TVs, which globally are expected to top 10 million units in 2014 as forecasted by GfK.

However, these major sporting events are not just about TV sales and retailers shouldn’t underestimate the opportunity for incremental sales within other categories. For example, we can’t forget that the World Cup will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live, presenting football fans with an alternative way to follow their favourite teams. People around the UK will be listening on the road, in the garden, or simply while pottering around their homes. This presents another fantastic opportunity for electrical retailers to boost sales of high-end DAB digital radios and offer consumers the best listening experience possible supported by D-Love and the efforts of Digital Radio UK.

Finally, it’s important for retailers not to overlook another crucial market – people with absolutely no interest in sport. This sizeable group of consumers will also need to be entertained this summer, and they are the perfect group to target with catch-up devices. These devices offer the perfect opportunity for people to plan their own entertainment and to tune out the football chatter taking place all around them.

With four weeks of world-class football overlayed with Andy Murray’s bid to retain his Wimbledon title, followed rapidly by the Commonwealth Games, the opportunities for brands to get a piece of the action are endless. Historically we’ve seen a sharp increase in TV sales during the past three World Cup tournaments, and we can say with confidence that this is an opportunity not to be overlooked.

Read the article at: http://ertonline.co.uk/default.aspx.locid-05nnew3lh.Lang-EN.htm

Since its beginnings in 1998, Google has transformed markets, business and social behaviour irrevocably for an entire generation. We are now programmed to ‘search’ before we do almost everything.

Google has developed beyond just being a search engine. It has created an ecosystem with the web browser as its backbone to become the modern day innovator with an array of much hyped tech products. Last week we saw Google Glass push the boundaries of technology with the example of the surgeon who became the first in the UK to use wearable tech during an operation. Next up is the Chromebook which is changing the dynamics and fortunes of the computing market.

The Chromebook is a laptop-shaped version of Google in every sense and is fast edging in on the traditional Microsoft PC and Apple Mac territory synonymous with remote computing with the support of high profile hardware vendors like Acer and Toshiba and chipsets from Intel.

Google is good at this. Chrome is without doubt becoming the internet browser of choice, superseding the likes of  Explorer, Firefox etc. Alongside this sits Google Maps, Images, Translate, Street view, Earth and YouTube – all Google businesses and applications that have become synonymous with a whole generation. Think vinyl to CD’s to MP3, our usage of internet based products and services are the only thing a generation has understood. And don’t forget Android, the mobile platform, which leads the global smartphone market. Unconsciously, people are affiliated with Google through Android – powered phones and therefore it is becoming part of the fabric of their lives. Google has become the unassuming innovator.

What is interesting about the Chromebook is that rather than trying to emulate the PC, its function has been developed in recognition of the most common use of a device – to interface with the internet, not work with the internet. It can’t help but shake up the PC market by creating its own category in the same way that streaming is overtaking DVD and BluRay.

There is no longer such a demand for an immobile desktop anymore and without doubt tablets are dominating sales, but many people still want to be able to do more than tap into apps. Latest figures from Canalys noted that tablets continued to outsell notebooks during the quarter, accounting for 41% of the market compared to 38%. There was a growth in PC sales of five per cent, while the tablet market saw 21% growth during the three month period up to March. This, however, is a significant decline from the 65% growth in the last quarter. Google is strident in its mission to flip what seems to be a flailing market upside down, offering everything you’d use a tablet for but offering more capability and with the convenience of a keyboard.

Chromebook is likely to build a loyal following, and, as Google has done with Android, the Chromebook is already naturally sliding into the line-up of traditional PC brands, suggesting that consumers will unconsciously become advocates of Google and the brand whilst still owning both a PC and a tablet.

Last week Google and Intel announced several new Chromebooks from Acer, Asus, Dell, Lenovo and Toshiba, acknowledging the opportunity Chromebook offers these brands as a category. Brand partnerships will continue to push Google’s brand to new consumers, as demonstrated by research firm NPD, Chrome OS computers accounted for 24% of sales of PCs under 300 dollars in the US over the first three months of the year. It has been predicted by market analyst Gartner that sales will reach 4.79 million worldwide in 2014 and for this appetite to rise by 66% next year.

Google is earning itself its seat on the world stage as a powerful global tech innovator. Far from resting on its laurels, the business continues to surprise and delight. Combine the giddy excitement in the face of their development of self-driving cars, with their CSR credentials in developing balloons carrying Internet access to developing countries  – and we have a brand that is quietly, and unashamedly changing the face of technology and how we interface with it, what’s not to love about Google.

Read the full article at: http://wallblog.co.uk/2014/06/02/google-the-unassuming-innovator/#ixzz33ZWfMXow