By Patrick Avenell
The sales and marketing teams at Panasonic is currently pounding the pavement around Australia as it embarks on a full service retail roadshow to built relationships with store staff, provide product training and show its appreciation for the work they do matching electronics with consumers.
The first shows on this tour have already been held in Adelaide and Melbourne. Over the course of the next month, Panasonic will visit Sydney for two presentations (21 and 22 May 2013), and have one each in Brisbane (28 May 2013) and Perth (12 June 2013).
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Richard Tassone, general manager marketing for consumer electronics, said retailers and staff will be introduced to a broad range of products at the show, including washing machines, refrigerators, air conditioners, cameras and camcorders, and Panasonic’s complete home entertainment solution.
“We felt it was the right time to hold a roadshow on this scale, with our recent push into new areas of whitegoods, as well as TV and imaging products that offer even greater interactivity and connectivity for the consumer and integration with devices such as smartphones and tablets,” he said.
“The real focus for the roadshow is to show our retail partners some simple ways they can demonstrate this in-store to highlight the benefits to the customer.
“All our product managers and training staff were involved in this on the evening. For example, the ‘My Home Screen’ feature on our Viera TVs recognises the user’s face with a built-in camera, and then displays their home screen with their favourite apps. It’s simple for a retailer to set up their own home screen in-store, and then demonstrate it to customers.
“We have had great feedback already. For example, in Adelaide a number of the retailers came to us with their customer questions on the new range, so we were able to show them on the spot some in-store demo ideas. I’m looking forward to the other states.”
Retail floor staff interested in attending a Panasonic road show session are advised to contact their Panasonic Sales Representative.
Sales staff listen intently to a presentation during the Panasonic roadshow in Melbourne.
Here is my wrap of Panasonic's regional press conference, which originally appeared in Appliance Retailer magazine:
Panasonic Australia descended on Adelaide recently to hold its annual sales conference and officially launch its 2013 home entertainment and digital imaging ranges.
Plasma panels continue to be Panasonic’s flagship technology, though the 2013 range has been tightened and simplified to convey a streamlined message: there are six models; all are Full HD; all but one is 3D; sizes range from 50-inch to 65-inch.
While the viewing experience on these plasmas remains excellent, Panasonic will instead be focusing its marketing and consumer communication on its reimagined Smart Viera platform. Product marketing manager Maetham Roomi outlined its key features.
“The new Plasma range is a frontrunner in home entertainment with improvements to networking functions such as My Home Screen, which provides instant access to users’ favourite content on a personalised TV screen,” Roomi said. “Voice Interaction lets users intuitively control the TV and Swipe and Share 2.0 makes it easy to link the TV with a smartphone or tablet and share photos, videos, and web pages with family and friends.
Swipe and Share 2.0 is compatible with Android and Apple smartphones and tablets.
There are also 19 LCD TVs in Panasonic’s range, from a 24-inch model at RRP $429 up to a 60-inch model at RRP $4,199.
Complementing these new TVs is a new Blu-ray Disc recorder with an extra 1TB hard drive for RRP $799. For those not concerned with recording to Blu-ray, there are two new combination Blu-ray Players with hard disk recording in 500GB (RRP $499) and 1TB (RRP $599) varieties.
To enhance retailers’ up-selling opportunities, Panasonic has introduced the SC-HTB series of Sound Bar Systems. There are two models: an entry level unit suited for TVs between 42 and 50 inches (RRP $299) and a much more stylish and versatile system suitable for TVs up to 65 inches (RRP $699).
In digital imaging, Panasonic has refreshed its Lumix tough range, releasing two new models with improved feature sets. The new flagship tough camera is the FT5 (RRP $499), which has the best specifications for a ruggedised point-and-shoot in Australia: waterproof to 13 metres, shockproof to 2 metres, freezeproof to -10° Celsius, dustproof and resistant to 100 kilograms of pressure.
Joining this model is the FT25 (RRP $249), which has reduced protection and only HD video recording but is still a good option for consumers looking to add a tough unit to their camera bag.
As it the world’s slimmest camera of its type, Panasonic’s new TZ40 (RRP $499) is the ultimate pocket camera for travellers, revellers and admirers. The 18.1-megapixel sensor is enormous, as is the 20x zoom, so users can get great close-up shots of Eiffel Tower rivets, the eye of the Sphinx and Kilimanjaro rising like Olympus above the Serengeti.
“Using Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, the DMC-TZ40 can be connected to a NFC compatible smartphone device at a touch, and still and movie shooting can be controlled from the smartphone screen,” said Doug Campbell. “And with the new Wi-Fi capability it’s even easier to capture, save and share those amazing memories with family and friends.”
Finally, Panasonic has unveiled a new Full HD camcorder range, which includes Wi-Fi models that can controlled via a smartphone or tablet app.
Top of the line is the HC-X920M (RRP $1,699) is the flagship model, featuring Panasonic’s 3MOS System Pro and Hybrid OIS+ for crystal clear and stable handheld recording. Other models in the range include the 50x optical zoom equipped HC-V520M (RRP $599) and the entry level HC-V110 (RRP $299).