Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM APRIL 2016 50 M ore years ago than I feel comfortable admitting to publically, I got my first job at (the now defunct) Lafayette Radio Electronics. This job was a dream come true. For you see while friends and other high school classmates were flipping through the pages of Marvel and DC comics, I was pouring through the 400 pages of the annual Lafayette catalog. My first job was being a warehouse "picker". A picker roamed the massive warehouse with a wheeled cart and picked the items needed to fulfill retail and mail order requisites. I was the slowest picker. If I encountered an item that I wasn't familiar with, I would take a moment to look at it, read the instructions and learn everything about it. Well, after about a year of this I was pretty familiar with just about everything we carried. And it was then that they offered this 11th-grader a part-time job in the retail store working the parts counter. I quickly learned about the PM. PM stood for push money. It was a spiff. Special allowances paid on specific items because they were particularly profitable to the company. Back then, some of the highest and top paying PM items were television antennas. Between the antenna itself and all of the related necessary accessories those PM's were pretty sweet. Pretty exciting. Why am I dragging you down memory lane? Well, it's to make a simple point. Antennas were crazy profitable back then and they still are today. What makes this relevant? It's the new trend called cord cutting. Cutting the cord (cable/satellite) refers to consumers who choose to discontinue their cable TV service while taking advantage of free or low cost streaming services. But that's only one part one of the process. Part two is the utilization of an antenna system so the consumer can receive local digital broadcast signals. (Local channels) And that's where the money is! Cord cutting is a huge and growing segment of the market. Many people are fed up with the high cost of cable and satellite services. They want to be more selective in their programming choices and not be forced to pay for unwanted bundled channels. One leading consumer publication reported that in 2015 approximately 3 million cable subscribers cancelled their television service. Here is an opportunity for you in your market to become the cord cutting expert. Promote the fact that you can provide the solutions that your consumers are seeking to help them make the switch. There is a wealth of information for you to educate yourself with on the internet. One site devoted to the trend is www.cordcuttersnews. com. Even facebook has a variety of pages; just search "cord cutters" to find them. Whether or not you choose to sell the Wi-Fi related hardware and software is up to you. Some consumers may need to update their routers. Others who don't have smart TVs may need a set top solution of some sort. But your big opportunity is the sale and possibly installation of the needed antenna system. The size and complexity of the antenna system depends on how far your customers live from the local broadcast sites. Folks nearby may get away with an indoor antenna. (They'll need one for every TV in the house) But chances are in more rural and suburban locations your customers will need an antenna system that is more elaborate. There are a variety of outdoor antennas available. All of these require installation by the customer or you. Then there are the cabling and other hardware items necessary to complete the installation. Some customers may prefer the antenna be placed in the attic so it is not seen. Others may need a rotor to aim the antenna in the direction of the transmitters. Hopefully, you're imagining the opportunity this modern trend brings to your business. Product is readily available from local electronics distributors. Talk up the trend with your customers. Have fun with it and enjoy the added profit that this new/old category brings to your business. CORD CUTTING – SAYING GOODBYE TO CABLE Jim Sendrak Consumer Electronic Trends Jim Sendrak is executive VP of consumer electronics and marketing for MEGA Group USA. He has worked in the retail business merchandising consumer electronics for three notable national and regional chains. Sendrak moved into buying group management and currently helps the 1,700+ members of MEGA Group compete and profit in markets where "big box" retailers are so prolific. RO

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