By Claire Reilly

As consumers gear up for summer, Samsung is busy promoting its innovative new appliances to the Australian market. The recently launched Smart Series Refrigerator and Smart Series Air Conditioners both feature Wi-Fi connectivity and represent a concerted push into the connected home for Samsung.

Current spoke to Mike Lilly, head of home appliances for Samsung Electronics Australia, about the brand’s move into the connected category and its broader strategy for home appliances leading into next year.

Here’s part one of our special two-part interview.

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Current.com.au: Are consumers ready for products as high-tech as connected air conditioners and refrigerators?

Mike Lilly: Yes they are. The point is trying to make it relevant to the consumer. This is the first of first wave of connected appliances [the Smart Series Refrigerator and Air Conditioners] – obviously the next wave will start to be available next year with bigger and better features. And our consumer base is already willing to try bigger and better things. I’d say the connected home is still in its infancy, but this summer, particularly with air conditioning and now with the launch of the fridge, that’s our first step.

C: What potential is there in the field of connected appliances?

ML: I don’t want to give away too much about what’s down the track with products, but it’s all about energy usage and monitoring, that’s the big push for connected homes. With this kind of gateway, essentially you’ll be able to talk with utilities and they’ll be able to start monitoring energy usage. Maybe they’ll send out messages saying, ‘It’s going to be a really hot day today so turn your air conditioner on,’ or, ‘There’s a southerly coming through so turn it off’. It could be off-peak/on-peak monitoring so the appliances are then smart enough to either turn off or turn on. It’s making it a lot easier for appliances to talk with that technology.

C: The Smart Series Refrigerator is currently just sold through Harvey Norman, do you have plans to roll it out into other retailers?

ML: The Wi-Fi fridge we believe is big enough to go broader. Technology has to be sold properly so the way you partner is a critical thing. It’s got to be sold properly, and not everyone can do that, so we just need to assess as we go along. At the moment our partnership with Harvey Norman is until March 2013.

C: How do you choose which retailers will sell these higher end appliances?

ML: It’s all about demographic mapping, even within particular retailers. Space on the floor is a premium, so you don’t want a product that’s not going to sell. Even a Wi-Fi fridge may not be suitable for all of the stores that we have in a particular channel. So we’re all about making sure that the right product is in the right place where it’s going to be sold properly. That mapping will become more and more prominent for us as we start to launch more high-end products. Of course we still have bread and butter products, and that’s really important. But those flagship products, it’s definitely about where they are and who they’re targeting. We’re starting to get more of an idea around the different demographics and what can be sold where.

Tomorrow: Samsung's new products for 2013 and what retailers can expect to see in the appliance industry.