While I own most of the 3D hardware types already, I still enjoy secret shopping at the top retail outlets whenever I get the chance. Having done so again recently, I'm really getting a firm grasp on what our industry's leading sales challenges are - and they are serious.
Our journey begins at the local Sony Experience store. They had a Bravia 3D HDTV on display showing sports programming. There was a huddle of people around it - no sales staff, just patrons. The huddle left, and there were just two people remaining. As I walked up to the stand, I heard the woman on the left telling her husband "I don't get it", and her husband said "I wouldn't spend my money on this!"...and they walked off in a huff. Read full article...
Yup Neil, you nailed it right on the head. That was my experience when I went shopping for my 3D TV. From the sales people, to how well the TV's were set up and the content they were running- all were very poor. One saleman handed me the most finger print covered shutter glasses - was I shocked. The salesman told me no one has told them the proper way to clean them. I was appalled. I asked if it would be allright if we took there PS3 and hook it to the Panasonic I was interested in. His answer was that a PS3 would only show 3D content on a Sony TV. The same for the 3D blu-ray players. He said a Samsung 3D blu-ray player would not show 3D on any of the LG's, Sony's, ect.. He said they were incompatable. All the demo's I viewed had very significant ghosting. The exception was the Panasonic VT25 the 50" version. It was amazing. So I bought one. I got it home and experienced significantly more ghosting than I had seen at the store. I was kinda disappointed with the ghosting. I paused one of my games and went into the menu options and spent the next couple of hours testing various adjustments. I found that by turning the contrast way down and adding a tich of brightness- well I no longer see ghosting. So I'm left to wonder weather all those TV's are just taken out of the box placed on the shelf and no one is taking the time to set them up for proper 3D viewing. I believe with a properly set-up TV most peoples reaction will be "Wow thats spectacular": Not the "I think I'll pass for now" that seems to be winning out.
So in conclusion, my retail store experience would politely be called very poor.
When the Samsung 3dtv's were first on sale at my local futureshop in edmonton, I think the second day they were out I went over to the demo units and there was a salesman there standing watching and helping customers put on the glasses. At the time they seemed rushed to only wear the glasses for a few seconds or so..... but the glasses were attached to a short cord like 40 centemeters long so I had to bend down to the height of a kid to view the tv.
When sony released their tv's I went to the store and seen the bravia 3dtv demo and the glasses were working with a press of the button so I could view the content nicely. I was not serious about buying a tv but just was curious on the 3dtv effect. The sales lady just guarded the cash box the whole time.
I wonder if the sales persons have a gut feeling or telepathic notion of who and when a customer is actually going to buy something in the store and just pass off the people who don't and just want the demo and work from the salesman that won't get their commision?
Yeah, sales people need training. Whats new? At least when I went to the local Best Buy to see the Panasonic set the people seemed to at least know how to set the thing up properly. I had to ask the guy to put something on in 3D, but when I did he quickly grabbed a remote and put on some demo content. So they are not all dumb. I think the weak link is the glasses. They get dirty easy, batteries run out, its not clear whether they are off or on (even to a 3D veteran), and they can get broken. I think 3D would have a much easier sell if we had consumer auto-stereo solutions available. But until then the glasses are a big barrier.
I went a couple times to my local store called FNAC. It's the downtown store so it's always full of people and the sales employees are constantly being cought by customers asking questions or taking orders. They have almost no time available to demonstrate products unless you specifically ask them.
When the 3DTVs were first introduced into the shop, there was a Samsung rep showing demos of their 42" 3DTV showing Monsters vs Aliens BluRay3D, he had two pairs of glasses to show the content to everyone who came by. (he was in the middle of the way so everybody in the shop could try it)
Every customer that came did have a look and it sowed quite great, most people were impressed but almost none actually came to purchase a new TV in the first place, so nobody bought one. But this was the only time I actually saw someone giving demos of a 3DTV in this shop.
The other days or in most other shops I went to, the 3DTVs just sit there among the other TVs on display, there is not even a special "3D corner", they are just put a little forward like the other expensive TVs the sales people know they won't sell.
The main probem in my opinion is price : the 3DTVs are the high end market they cost more than what most consumers are ready to spend. Most people buy a new TV by need : ARGH ! my previous TV is broken, I need a new one, I have XXXX amount of money (usually 1000€ or less), what can I get for this amount of money ?
You can't find any 3DTV for this price but you have a great selection choice of FullHD 1080p 42-46" LCD and Plasmas for this price.
The 3DTVs won't sell unless they're low price, if the sales people know they'll sell 100 normal TVs for every 3DTV, why would they even bother giving demos of the 3DTVs ? The sales people aren't there to promote a particular TV technology, they are there to sell, so they only take care of customers who they believe will buy something and direct them straight to the TVs they know they'll sell.
The 3DTV customers aren't a priority, because they are too few and most of them probably already know which 3DTV they want when they decide to come to the shop.
If a 3DTV customer actually comes he'll show his interest to the salesman who will be very happy to sell him one.
I think it's a similar analogy to selling cars. I went to a Nissan showroom the other day, they had their most expensive mosnter, the amazing 85.000+ € Nissan GT-R on expo. Sure it's a great car with a huge bonus to the one who manages to sell one, but very few, if any, customer will actually buy one, so the car is locked and even if a customer starts asking question about it, the sales person will never even consider proposing a test drive. He won't even go get the key to open the door unless the customer shows some kind of wealth potential.
The day the 3DTVs will be affordable by every customer, then the question of "do I take 3D or for the same price do I take the 2" bigger TV" will arise, and customers will need to try 3D to see for themselves to decide which one they want.
