October/November 2022
ertonline.co.uk
The Bespoke home appliances from Samsung
Changing consumer styles
Brands have been busy bringing new products to the market that reflect consumers’ changing styles recently. One such company was LG, which brought the new MoodUp fridge, which is not only filled with advanced refrigeration features but also has personalisation at its core.
Owners are able to change the colour of their
fridge depending on their mood and light up their kitchen to reflect
the desired ambiance.
Furthermore, it incorporates speakers to play music, thus providing an additional sonic experience. With the LG ThinQ app on your mobile devices you will be able to adjust the lighting from 22 colours on the upper panels and 29 colours on the lower panels! For those that don’t need this choice of combinations there are also four pre-set colour schemes. Sticking with home appliances, it appears that it’s no longer unusual to desire a range of products that are fully interactive; for example, appliances where you can pull-up recipes to assist with your cooking, Facetime a friend or simply use your appliance as a digital photo frame! Samsung presented such a solution with a bespoke range of MDAs, which not only look fantastic but are also super-efficient in their energy consumption and water usage. The competition is also ahead of the curve. Again, LG have its own technology as demonstrated on the InstaView fridges, while Panasonic have its combination ovens which seem old fashioned but have been revitalised, also with new features in its SDA range alongside its bread makers and juicers. A clever move, reflecting the trend towards making things at home to assist with budgeting and sustainability. It certainly appears that some lockdown habits are persisting, together with the cost of living being a driver for certain categories. I would suspect that certain pastimes will continue to gain popularity across all generations. In fact, Panasonic announced that its mission across all wellbeing categories is to deliver on its vision of holistic wellbeing.
Commercial appeal Another trend from the likes of Samsung, LG, Panasonic and TCL was heating and cooling – not
a particularly glamorous category, but by adding air purification technology and applying a variety of unpronounceable, ethereal names, manufacturers are trying to garner some attention here. Yet I feel this is merely branding for branding’s sake, maybe detracting from the core of the product and its health benefits. Similarly, I have to say I left this year’s IFA with the impression that certain product introductions had limited mass appeal. The LG Styler ShoeCase has to be, for me, the most random exercise in innovation; it is, in essence, a box in which to display and sanitise your footwear, removing the odour of stinky feet!
These cases are transparent on three sides, with customisable lights and a 360-degree turntable which refreshes shoes in 40 minutes with LG’s TrueSteam technology to reduce odours, viruses and bacteria. This is all very clever, but the ThinQ app lets you go one step further… in that you can upload the details of your most precious kicks to share on social media and brag about! Mind blown? Mine is!
Elsewhere, Samsung showcased its Bespoke range of home appliances, which again enabled clever personalisation of your appliances to match your living space and turn them into statement pieces for your home. This naturally extended into some more traditional technology you’d expect to see at IFA, such as the new Laser 4K Triple and NEO QLED 8K TVs. Toshiba also had some interesting tricks up its sleeve; the new TikTok TV, for example, brings this huge social platform to the biggest screen in your home with Quantum Dot 5K technology (below) and Dolby Atmos and Onkyo speakers. I suppose what we are seeing here from these brands is a way to tap into all generations and remain relevant, where technology intersects art and design to enhance, and in some cases create, lifestyles. All done within the remit of sustainability and convenience for an ever-changing and evolving population that now lives differently to how we did only two years ago. The paradigm was well and truly turned on, metaphorically and in reality. In essence, I suppose the absence of this behemoth Berlin show has made us all grow fonder towards it, reminding us of its importance in the industry. This makes IFA the ideal platform for brands to showcase their wares.
And with the economy as it is and home improvement a massive trend right now, that’s where you fit in. Make the most of the opportunity and give your customers honest advice and sustainable solutions from the best technology that perfectly matches their needs.
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