Samsung hosted the most popular press conference at IFA 2022 in Berlin focusing on the theme of ‘creating a smarter home for a better future’.
Speaking exclusively with Appliance Retailer immediately after the press conference, Samsung Australia vice president – consumer electronics, Jeremy Senior provided an insight into the key focus areas for Australian retailers from the vast array of products, themes and concepts from within the company’s global portfolio.
One of the key areas from IFA that will be brought back to the local market will the Bespoke Living concept that builds on the success of the Lifestyle TV products in the Australian market.
“From an Australian retailer perspective, we are going to be talking to retailers at IFA about Bespoke Living in terms of style design and personalisation that is tailored to the next generation of consumer. Millennials and members of Generation Z are looking for something different to what their parents had and are looking to create a personalised space through the use of colour and configuration.
“We will be launching Bespoke refrigeration in Australia, to complement other products already introduced from the range including Bespoke vacuum and Bespoke microwave showcasing this concept of colour and customisation across a number of our product categories.
“We have seen a clear trend from the TV category that Australian consumers are looking for something different. Australia has one of the highest proportions of Lifestyle TV of all Samsung subsidiaries in the world, as Australians love Samsung products in this category such as The Frame, The Serif TV, the Freestyle portable projector, the Terrace outdoor TV as they deliver something different – they are not black boxes on a wall – they allow personalisation and the ability to express their personality through those products. We are very confident with the success of Bespoke Living in home appliances based on what we have observed with Australian consumers in the lifestyle TV category.
“On top of that we are also talking about how we are making that picture experience bigger. Samsung OLED launched in the market over the last couple of weeks – it expands our offering allowing consumers to have the TV that is right for them and right for the space and the experience they want to deliver.
“Additionally – gaming is a priority for Samsung and you will see Odyssey become a much bigger focus – and in particular the 55-inch Odyssey Arc with the ability to offer portrait mode and multi-screening allowing you to not only have the game going, but also a Twitch feed and also your messaging apps all vertically stacked which allows the consumer to experience gaming in the most immersive way.
“From a messaging perspective, sustainability can be tackled in a number of different ways. We have some really meaningful statements such as the solar cell remote that is removing disposable batteries from the environment as well as our focus on reducing the material in packaging to lessen the impact of the environment and putting in micro filters to remove micro plastics from the washing machine and from getting into the ocean. We are using AI to optimise energy usage of appliances – which is another way to reduce carbon footprint and help consumers who want to make a bigger statement around sustainability.
“In conjunction with AI we have collaborations with over 300 separate vendors to remove mundane and monotonous tasks to give consumers the time to do things they want to do – which is that point of meaningful innovation delivered through technology.
“You can have big bold statements and big global aspirations, but you can also have a series of functional tasks and actions that deliver a sustainable future as well. From an Australian perspective we have to work hard to really encourage retail salespeople to understand what meaningful differences we are making and how that is helping to deliver a more sustainable future.
“The announcement of the 20-year inverter and compressor warranty is a US and Europe position and we will explore it in Australia and see what makes sense for our market. We already have a 10 year inverter warranty on our washing machines and there is certainly an aspiration around increasing the longevity of our products and speaking to the quality behind our engineering and product quality.
“There is also long-term consumer benefits with Bespoke Living focusing on longevity as opposed to sustainability as it allows longevity for the product through the ability to refresh it and upgrade it based on lifecycle. When you move into a house when you are a couple and you add a couple of children to that – you need a bigger refrigerator – do you throw that one out and buy a new one or do you add another Bespoke cabinet and expand it that way? How do you refresh your kitchen when it goes from black to white? Do you buy a new product or simply change the panels over the match the new interior décor? Reducing electronics waste and hardware waste is also assisting the environment by allowing people to refresh in a relatively cost-effective way.
“In relation to the announcement of 350 billion Euros in R&D over the next five years, as a global organisation we are very focused on developing technology that is going to make the world better in the future. When you consider all of the aspects of our business across mobile devices, semiconductors, batteries, appliances etc, that investment is required to allow us to innovate and bring the products to market.
“As a local sales subsidiary we are focused on the innovation we are seeing in the next 12 to 24 months, but since our inception as a CE brand, we have shown constant innovation and lifestyle TV is a great example where we have fundamentally changed customer expectation around TV and have changed the expectation from size and picture quality to also being about the aesthetic in your home.”