digimag-september-2021.dealerscope.comDealerscope DigiMag September 2021

× Content x DigiMag September 2021 Pulse Voices Nationwide Marketing Group Retail Rumblings Appliances Travel Digital Diva 3D Commerce Warranty Roundup Audio-Video Unboxed Smart Home Retail Excellence Awards 2021 Health & Wellness Nationwide PrimeTime Event 2021 Stat Shot Podcast CT Events Subscribe To Our Publications Get In Touch Masthead Menu Inside the Dealerscope September 2021 DigiMag: Discover how our 2021 Retail Excellence Award winners pivoted and persisted through the pandemic year and came out on top. Plus, the benefits of "3D Commerce," the coolest new refrigerator technologies, and a guide to the latest e-bikes, a hot and growing category that every smart CE retailers must consider. And lastly, watch ’Dealerscope Insider Look,’ a new series in which we interview the experts and leaders in the consumer electronics and appliance sectors, shot at Nationwide PrimeTime in Nashville. Happy reading! A WORD FROM OUR PUBLISHER A September to Remember Hard to believe we are in the last four months of the year, already — and gearing up to have in-person” events such CEDIA Expo in Indianapolis, and several buying group shows such as Nationwide Primetime and BrandSource, in Nashville, etc. I am excited to start seeing each of you at these events. It will be a refreshing way to do business again. As we enter this stretch of time, Dealerscope is honored to partner with Value Electronics to host their TV Shootout in NYC on September 12. We look forward in anticipation to learn who will be crowned King of TV’s” for 2021. In addition, for the first time ever, on September 13, we will produce our Projector Shootout, where companies will go head-to-head to see who is the best in short-throw projectors. This will be something not to miss. Covering the world of TVs, Vanessa Zitzmann contributes to this issue with an article on Five Things to Know About 8K.” I can’t wait to read this piece. We will also look at why, worldwide, video game hardware sales are doing so well during the pandemic. Our annual Dealerscope Retail Excellence Awards are also in our September issue. I congratulate our honorees: InMotion, Audio46, and Orsini’s. These retailers are all doing great things in their brick-and-mortar stores and through their e-commerce presence. Make sure to check out their profiles. We also present our Fall Warranty Roundup — an overview of the new solutions these companies are offering to support the Consumer Electronics and Appliance categories. Our editorial team is doing an E-bike roundup in our Unboxed” column, and Health & Wellness” explores how workouts have become the killer app for VR. We also take a closer look at how to address inventory in a non-traditional way, in 3D Commerce: The Building Blocks of Virtual Inventory.” And speaking of retail, we interview Eden Goldberg, VP, Marketing & Business Development at InMotion, and Pete Newbould, Managing Director & SVP InMotion Stores, Marshall Retail Group, WHSmith PLC, on travel tech and how this category is taking off. Of course, month after month, we will offer other articles to help you conduct your day-to-day business more effectively. We always strive to keep Dealerscope important to you, and want to keep earning your support of our brand and content. Please know that you are appreciated. As always, please feel free to get in touch with me at tmonteleone@ctlab.media . Tony Monteleone, Group Publisher of CT Lab Global Media A WORD FROM OUR EDITOR IN CHIEF Top trends in e-commerce right now Now more than ever, e-commerce is a channel that no retailer can ignore. That’s why, for those who are already knee-deep in e-commerce, this month’s issue features two stories that outline some ways to supercharge online sales initiatives with compelling content on product pages. But product content aside, what are some of the biggest trends in e-commerce right now? For that, I turned to GGV Capital Managing Partner Hans Tung, whose early-stage investment portfolio includes consumer financing company Affirm, home fitness electronics brand Peloton, shopping app Wish, and e-commerce startup Poshmark. Here are three of Tung’s top e-commerce trends right now. Amazon continues its skyrocketing growth, but so does Shopify Five or ten years ago, the debate was Amazon versus Walmart or Amazon versus eBay, but you don’t see that anymore,” says Tung. Instead, it’s Amazon versus Shopify. Amazon is this 800-pound gorilla that is starting to do its own private-label versions of products that are selling well on Amazon. So now, all of the brands are starting to worry that putting all of their eggs in one basket is running the risk of helping Amazon get more data to come up with private-label versions of their products.” As such, brands and retailers are increasingly going to Shopify to kickstart their e-commerce initiatives in ways that won’t necessarily spawn greater competition from Amazon or even Facebook. Buy-now-pay-later financing is replacing credit card transactions As e-commerce grows, so do latter-day layaway plan financing services such as Affirm, Afterpay, and Klarna, which doubled in users in just one year. One of the reasons for this growth is that, unlike with credit cards, shoppers don’t have to pay any additional interest when using buy-now-pay-later services. Instead of spending money on marketing,” Tung says, these services pay the interest for you.” Interestingly, this financing trend started in Brazil, which has more buy-now-pay-later transactions than any other country, but Tung sees the use of these payment services growing in the U.S., particularly for big-ticket items such as consumer electronics and appliances. More people and brands are starting to embrace it,” he says. Peloton has done well with buy-now-pay-later; it’s one of the fastest-growing parts of Peloton’s business. I can also see it doing well with appliance retail; people would rather pay off big purchases over 24 or 36 months.” Livestream shopping is huge in China, but it’s not quite ready for primetime in the U.S .— yet Amazon and eBay started in the U.S., but it’s now coming back full circle because more e-commerce and innovation is happening in China,” says Tung. Livestream shopping in the U.S. is getting a lot of buzz, but in terms of volume it’s still on the small side.” Even though Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and other live video giants are dipping their toes in the livestream shopping arena, it’ll take more refinement and iterations to get it right,” says Tung. There are certainly more gems of e-commerce wisdom such as these from Tung and other experts in the field. We’ll make sure to keep sharing these in the coming weeks and months in the pages of this magazine and online at dealerscope.com. Tom Samiljan CE RETAIL TECHNOLOGY September 2021 CE News Mask Requirements Return to Large Retailers | Many large retailers such as Home Depot, Walmart, Target, and Apple are reinstituting mask mandates for employees across the country, beginning in areas that are high risk for COVID-19. The move comes on the heels of the CDC’s announcement recommending that vaccinated members of the populace resume wearing masks, as vaccinated people may be also able to transmit the Delta variant. The mask mandate is a clear sign that the coronavirus pandemic continues to be a challenge to retail businesses. READ MORE Foot Traffic Back to Pre-COVID Levels for Some Shopping Centers | Kimco, owner of more than 400 shopping centers around the country, announced that foot traffic within its shopping centers over the second quarter of 2021 is back to pre-pandemic levels. Last-mile retail has become more valuable to the consumer, as retailers have figured out how to cater to customer needs through in-store and curbside pickup, as well as making returns easier. READ MORE Global Floods Also Wreaking Havoc on Toy Supply Chains | It may be best to get your holiday shopping in early this year as retailers are expecting major shipping shortages to affect product...