Retail Observer

RETAILOBSERVER.COM MAY 2021 54 I have the distinguished benefit of being a serial shopper and a floundering hobbyist. I find myself continually researching the nuances of an endless rotation of hobbies. During the research and education step, I relentlessly chop through the overgrowth of information to find the easiest path of entry to get me started – an unwavering hunt for the perfect hobby "starter kit," you could say. But, as with all hobbyists, what inspires me to get started is the vision of what the pinnacle of the hobby looks and feels like. From RC cars and fly fishing to PC packages and home theater systems, my hobbies have been riddled with stop-and-start love/ hate relationships, because while I was able to find the entry, I was never able to achieve the pinnacle. At the center, I always found a great retailer to fuel the hobby flame and start a retail relationship that guided me to a simple path of entry while igniting the inspiration of the hobby to take it further. Over the years one of my favorite hobbies has been data. And because it's trendy to reference endless streams of data to rationalize and support a thought, the pendulum of retail art and science is swinging heavily to the science side. I could bore you with data for days – let's face it, data, at its core, is boring. That's not to dimmish the importance of data in retail – it's necessary and required to compete in today's retail planning. But it really is boring! So, instead, let's focus on the art of retail for a moment, and how the hobby of the connected home is getting lost in the data. Let me start with this: there is not a best-in-class, complete, connected home retailer today. Let that sink in for a second. Wait for it. Ok, here it comes. Yes, I agree that there are places where you can find a good selection of smart products. Yes, you can research the different brands and products online and buy from those vendors directly. Yes, the convenience of having an app talk to you with prerecorded video and ship products directly to your doorstep is all there. But if you look at it, shop it, and feel it today, most of retail is merchandising and presenting brand and price stories in the connected home space. That's because that is what the data of retail guides us to do. If you take a moment to shop and feel it, there is no complete connected home experience that elevates the hobby into a multi-billion-dollar industry. For a hobby category to succeed, it needs to excite the customer's imagination of what's possible and tickle the desire of wanting to do more. Hobbies fueled by enthusiasts need retailers to excite and inspire them to reach out for more – to set up, play, upgrade and have fun. A hobby needs retailers to position the hobbyist at the core of what's possible while simplifying the point of entry and making it easy for everyone to enter. When I talk connected home with people, I struggle to find folks who love to talk about how their home is connected and how much they're enjoying it. Too often the discussions turn to what cannot be done, or the troubles they've had operating the system – and not racing to explain how cool it is. There doesn't seem to be a groundswell of people trying to recruit others into the connected home club. It feels like there's a big gap between the very happy integrated smart home customer and the smart speaker connected home. The category lacks the hobbyist. The connected home category is not going away, and as more suppliers invest R&D to bring connected features to their products, they'll push retailers to deliver brand stories. Retail is the great storyteller, the great leader of inspiration and the great builder of hobbies. The connected home category needs retailers to deliver selection, service and support that will inspire the hobby of connected home. Derek Mattila, Vice president of New Business Development, Nationwide Marketing Group RO INSPIRING THE HOBBY OF CONNECTED HOME Derek Mattila Connected Home Trends

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