At the moment the only outlet for SmartThings; other than Samsung; in the UK is Currys. (Who are not exactly actively promoting SmartThings)
Surely if this was opened up and included the likes of Amazon ( as in the US ) there would be
More competitive prices
A much higher profile and product awareness. (Leading to increased sales ?)
So, are we going to see any changes or is this the way ahead ?
Since xmas I have been into Curry’s about a dozen times and across 3-4x Curry’s in central and SW London. I have seen prime product placement abd every weekend I have seen Samsung/Smartthings branded people promoting the product. I think the approach is right as they are aiming it at the more technical or power users. Mass advertising imho will be alot of money for not much return as it needs to be really targeted.
On the pricing you have a point. I don’t know the exact numbers but when I last searched there was a large difference between US and UK pricing. I think the Black fiday pricing of £149 for the starter pack is a better price point and £99 would probably see it fly off the shelves. The actual other components are quite high at £30+ for about £3 worth of kit
Smarting’s is being very actively promoted in the curry’s stores from what I can see. It is front and center and has dedicated staff promoting it. I think what the dixons group have done is a classic buyers tactic. They have told ST they will take xx thousand units but only if they are granted exclusivity in the UK for x months or a year so they can stave off the (amazon) competition. I suspect they will have pushed for a year.
The day that exclusivity deal expires, you can bet amazon already have an order on the books to start selling on that day.
This deal gave ST and samsung an avenue into normal consumers who may not be actively looking at HA as its not something they have thought about until the dedicated ST salesman pushes it to them…and lets be honest that’s something amazon cant do as you really have to search for what you want to buy.
I don’t go to currys majority of the time when I wanted something it wasn’t in the area of 25 miles at all or listed as in stock and when I got there it wasn’t … Samsungs store ships next day if ordered by 7pm which has so far been the better option - let alone other HA parts like the fibaro 6in1 sensors - haven’t seen a one stop shop yet that suits my needs …
neither do i, but i don’t class myself as an average consumer, i class myself as an enthusiast. but as you also said online stores are only really good if you have something in mind to search for (admittedly the male of the species want to do this). but people aren’t upsold anything, they aren’t really built for browsing if you don’t have anything in mind or even have something else in mind when you go to the store e.g. a toaster…with Amazon and the Samsung Store you would just come out with your toaster you went in for…but with a bricks and mortar store you could go in for a toaster but come out with a toaster and ST…
the UK has embraced online shopping to a far larger extent that anywhere else on the continent, but there is still and always will be a place for a bricks and mortar store if they remain financially viable
I read somewhere a while ago that Currys has 6 months exclusivity. Not sure how true that is, but I guess we’ll see in a few months time if that was correct.
not sure really - there are hardly any specialists stores these days and let alone the employees - go into whatever store and ask if this works with that or what the core differences are and unless the person has made their own experience with it it will be a “yeah should work, if not you can return it within xy days anyway, that is our in-store customer friendly policy” when you then get back to return it, nutters, no return on in-store items - been there dont that with Currys … so I order online unless I need something within the next 4 hours and even then I am reluctant and use amazon prime same day delivery instead …
as an example I got ST, HUE and Osram here at the moment to do some testing of the integration etc - and that pretty much gives me 14-30 days worth of testing and I can still return it …
You are different breed to me. I never make any returns ever…at least unless it breaks (only happened twice in ten+ years)
If im not functionally happy with something I either invest the time to get it working or put it in the stockpile of my future museum.
Well with all this incompatibilities and incorrectly implemented standards I rather get the opportunity to test things - agreed you buy into an ecosystem but if it’s flawed or not working as expected - what’s the point to count your losses? If everything would be 100% compatible as it may suggest with no restrictions etc you could just buy and use it unfortunately this is not the case, I wish it were that simple …
no I totally agree, but im just too lazy to return stuff 
Well I tell you a good thing with amazon, keep the box, request a return, print the return code, put it in the box and wait for DPD to colectomy it for free 
otherwise I probably would do the same as you
I’m with fuzzy on this one. Too much hassle to return things. I just moan a bit and then goes into the pile. Waiting around at home for things to be collected sounds pretty frustrating. Do they give you a slot?
They do indeed - within a specific hour but doesn’t bother me I just chose a date when working from home anyway