Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM MARCH 2016 66 W hen it comes to home entertainment, there's nothing more important than the home network. These days, most everything relies on the Internet. A typical home might have someone streaming Netflix in the bedroom, another playing online games in the garage, and others listening to streaming music on Sonos. If the home network backbone is not up to snuff, then the dreaded buffering wheel can bring home entertainment to a trickle or a screeching halt. That's because with all this great streaming content comes a lot of data flowing around the home—especially if your customer wants to enjoy high-definition content. The more content streamed, the more the WiFi in the home will clog up. For retailers, this poses a unique opportunity to become the home network facilitator. Give your customers a strong and reliable home network, and you build the foundation for other types of home systems, including home automation, home entertainment, lighting, security, climate control, and more. By offering a more robust home network, preferably one installed (and even maintained) by a professional, and you not only create happy clients, but ensure future sales. For large homes, multiple wireless access points may be needed to ensure continuous, even coverage across the house. In fact, for homes with a lot of streaming entertainment demands, enterprise- grade routers and other products that go well beyond what your local Internet service provider are excellent solutions. As an added bonus, a lot of home entertainment and networking gear can be maintained remotely, which is a huge savings for your service department. Instead of a technician going to a client's home on Super Bowl Sunday to fix something, more than likely, they can troubleshoot it over the Internet, saving time and money while adding convenience. Conversely, customers coming into your store looking for a whole-home wireless music system or streaming video products may not know that they will need to upgrade their home networking system to fully enjoy these devices. This is a great opportunity for add-on sales. Finally, it's important to stress to customers that because the home network has become the ruler of the roost, the backbone of any home system, the network has never been more vulnerable. Investing in network security, therefore, is a surefire way to protect the client's entire home from network intruders. Some homeowners go the extra mile to get a robust network infrastructure, only to skimp when it comes time to secure it. The wireless router is the first target, and there are several ways to secure it. For example, technology that connects to the Internet has default security settings, and often, passwords and logins are the same for similar types of devices making them vulnerable to hacks. Stress the importance of creating complex passwords that don't use personal information. If you have an installation department, securing the home network is another opportunity to help your customers get on the road to secure, robust streaming at home. HOM E NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY Dave Workman Consumer Electronic Trends Dave Workman—President, ProSource Buying Group RO

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