Summer | gekkofm

Here comes the sun

It may seem a long way ahead, but that well-earned summer break is right around the corner for many, and they’ll be needing some accessories to make that holiday memorable, practical and relaxed.

Put yourself in the flip-flops of another and think about the gadgets you like to take away with you. Translate that into a range of products your customers may benefit from and avoid those pricey, last-minute airport purchases.

Portable speakers are a key area for the summer season and an opportunity to sell. Think beach holidays, parties or barbecues in the garden. Consumers will head outdoors when the weather warms up, and require some entertainment.

Portable speakers from brands such as Jabra and Libratone make a perfect accessory for outdoor living, with Bluetooth connectivity allowing anyone to connect their phone and play their music via Deezer, Spotify or Google Play. Use this feature as part of the demonstration by encouraging shoppers to connect their own device to hear the quality and see the ease of use. Make sure that your staff know how to connect to the speaker and can speak confidently about its features, such as battery life.

Staying with audio, headphones are another accessory many shoppers may be looking to upgrade at this time of the year. Whether purchasing some travel headphones to make flying more enjoyable, from the likes of Sennheiser, or perhaps some sports headphones from Monster or B&W for running in the sun, shoppers will want to see a good range with demo units that they can actually hear playing.

Set up a ‘play table’ in-store, allowing shoppers to try out a variety of headphones. Connect them to a music player to let shoppers hear the quality of the sound. Although not for audiophiles, consumers still want to know they’re getting a quality product before they decide to purchase.

Train your staff to use their questioning skills when speaking to customers looking to buy an audio product, especially headphones. What are they using them for? What type of music do they like? Do they want over-ear or in-ear? What device are they using to play music? All these questions can tailor the shopping experience and make sure each customer gets the right product for them.

With recent news suggesting tablets and laptops will need to be kept in your hold luggage this summer, shoppers will looking for something to protect their gadgets. Think about your range of laptop bags and tablet cases. Does your ranging include heavy-duty cases, from brands such as CAT and Griffin, that will survive a long-distance flight? Shoppers will be heading into store to find these products, so it’s up to you to offer them the advice they need.

When demonstrating a case, don’t drop a device on the floor, as that may lead to disaster. Instead, make sure your staff can communicate the benefits of a case to a customer, explaining the materials used and build quality, and how these will ensure the safety of the customer’s tablet, phone or laptop.

In addition, add other accessories to the conversation such as Tile – a tracker that allows your device to be found anywhere in the world if lost. Shoppers looking to take their devices abroad with them will want the peace of mind that they are safe and secure – offer your customers this solution with a conversation and demonstration.

Another area to consider is home security. Everyone fears leaving their house for weeks at a time, some more than others, and asking a neighbour to look after things while you are away may not be an option.

Now with innovations in the smart home, this fear can be reduced by keeping track of our homes from any smart device. Consider ranging smart security products such as the Ring video doorbell, which allows users to answer their door and speak to visitors from anywhere in the world through their smartphone.

Likewise, smart plugs from the likes of Hive and smart light bulbs like the Philips Hue can give consumers the peace of mind that their homes appear occupied. Both allow users to control their lighting and appliances from their mobile, giving them total control of their home from any location.

If you’re speaking to a customer who’s inquiring about the smart home, explain the benefits of controlling their home from their smart device. The added security benefits are a huge selling point, and are something you can easily demonstrate by installing some demo models on a lamp or similar appliance in-store. And make the point that these smart home innovations can save them money on heating and electricity bills all year long.

There are plenty of opportunities to take advantage of the holiday season. Shoppers will be looking for last-minute items before they travel. Make your store look the part with seasonal p-o-s and displays, encouraging shoppers to head inside to find that perfect, competitively-priced accessory, purchasing a well-chosen product from your store rather than hastily at the airport.

Let’s go surfin’ now, everybody’s learning how

This year we can get set for a summer of sport. The Uefa Euro 2016 is up next in June; then it’s the Olympics in Rio in August, punctuated by the annual tournaments such as Wimbledon. So, it’s understandable why so many fans are streaming content via a variety of devices in the home and on the go.

However, sport is not necessarily for all. With the launch of Sky Q, the opportunity for all members of the family to watch what they want, where they want, is an appealing prospect to many. Sky customers already watch 20 per cent of programmes on connected devices – Sky Q and its ‘fluid viewing’ will no doubt appeal to this group and begin to penetrate slowly the 11 million Sky subscribers in the UK.

For those not looking for a contract, there’s always the opportunity that a smart TV – in particular, a Freeview Play-enabled model – offers consumers. Viewing times for Rio 2016 will be unsociable and not necessarily feasible viewing for a wide audience, but catching up over breakfast via an app is an ideal way to keep up to date.

Fans want to see rather than read about those amazing feats that make a major sporting event, such as the Olympics, the spectacle it is, with an estimated 24.2m viewers in the UK and 3.6 billion globally. In 2012, there were 5,600 hours of footage, which aired globally, cross-platform and amassed the equivalent of 801m hours of watched media.

Similarly, the Euro 2012 tournament amassed an average global audience of 150m viewers per match, with 14.2m Brits watching the final.

It’s a fact that 47 per cent of broadband households have a smart TV in the UK and 93 per cent of smart TV owners connect their TVs to the internet (up from 78 per cent in 2013). Furthermore, 37 per cent of TV viewing time on smart TVs is spent watching on-demand content that is only going to grow, as by 2018 it is estimated that 87 per cent of all TVs sold will be smart. Streaming is now the norm and no longer a special feature.

On February 16, BBC Three, the first BBC digital channel, became an online-only channel, provoking a mixed reaction from fans. But is this surprising, when BBC iPlayer saw a 32 per cent year-on-year increase in users using a connected TV to access the service between December 21 and December 31 last year? This is a trend that is set to increase in popularity, making access to iPlayer no longer a luxury, but a necessity through the household TV.

For those avoiding the temptation of making a smart TV purchase or looking to update on a meagre budget, you can do so with a streaming device, such as Google Chromecast, allowing you to stream from your PC, Chromebook or tablet. This allows users to subscribe to Netflix, which now has almost five million recorded subscribers as of December 2015 and cast those box sets, movies, whatever directly to your TV without degrading the quality of picture or sound.

Other devices include the Amazon Fire TV stick and Now TV, with the option to pay for content, as almost 1.7 million people do already in the UK on both platforms. With 4K streaming available from Netflix and BT Sport averaging an extra £4 premium per month to standard HD streaming, competition is becoming fierce, with Amazon and YouTube streaming 4K content at no extra cost.

To some it may seem that content is currently limited, but it is expected to increase, as both studios and platforms commit to a broader 4K offering as an industry standard across streaming services and 4K Blu-ray in 2016.

It is estimated that in 2016 the global share of 4K TVs sold will be 23 per cent, up 35 per cent in the UK as Britons look to future-proof their viewing technology.

With 46 per cent of Brits streaming music, TV or video at least once a week, and online video accounting for 50 per cent of all mobile traffic, it’s no wonder that the popularity of streaming devices is also on the increase.

A UK study released in January identified that seven- to 16-year-olds spend an average of three hours online every day and 2.1 hours of that is watching TV, with 60 per cent watching TV using a device (phone, tablet, or laptop). Of those surveyed, 38 per cent stated that they did most of their viewing on demand.

For retail, there is a huge opportunity to upgrade customers who perhaps have relegated the old LCD to the play room and are looking to go bigger and smarter.

Streaming content is a growth industry and having the freedom to watch when you want is standard, not a luxury. Give customers what they want or haven’t realised they could achieve. Link in-store demos to wi-fi-enabled tablets or similar to bring the concept to life in-situ to complete the customer journey and boost sales.

gekkofm

Marketing

Tag Archives: Summer

Here comes the sun

Let’s go surfin’ now, everybody’s learning how

gekkofm

Marketing

Tag Archives: Summer

Here comes the sun

Share this:

Like this:

Let’s go surfin’ now, everybody’s learning how

Share this:

Like this: