SmartThings Retail Store Live Demo, Looking for ideas, best practices

For Hue I would recommend using the Hue Disco app for color bulb demos. No ST integration but ST can’t come close to the things this app can do with Hue color lights.

3 Likes

How about a user guide/manual on how to set up what they see in your demo? It could be by room like kitchen, bedroom, living room etc. or by features like lighting, Audio Video, Notifications, Temperature control, profile , etc.

It could be a booklet that they can use to plan and buy everything they need.

I find most of my friends and family are staying away from “SmartHome” due to the complexity (or perceived complexity) in setting up what they see in videos and demos.

2 Likes

And there in lies the fundamental hurtel I find most prevalent. I find it tends to not ONLY be the complexity of set up, but customization. There are NEVER 2 identical set ups. I think this is why you find the CoRE thread endless. Success is very much about the individual(s) lifestyle and preferences, and what they value, solves a problem for them or they just think is “cool”. Sometimes you can’t even get to the “start of the install” learning there networking and OH BTW - no neutral wire, plaster walls, metal door frames… the best written manual will be hard pressed to do a HOW TO set up of “what you see here”.

In my pitch I am pressed to clearly explain a "connected home (devices) vs. a “smart home” - very different IMO.

My best success is finding out is about the person and lifestyle and helping them steer, they don’t know what they don’t know - when you are just discovering Smart Home “things”.

1 Like

This demo is certainly not a DIY-Out-Of-The-Box experience. Baillio’s is nothing like the big box stores like HomeDepot, Lowes, Sears that sell all the stuff without any experience in supporting it. Baillio’s actually have custom installation and support crew that have been working on Control4 for years so SmartThings is just another solution for them to offer and support. I think some of the long term plans will be to offer DIY classes for SmartThings ala HomeDepot style to help customers.

3 Likes

When I was watching the video of the demo, I was overwhelmed. I can’t even imagine what it would be like for the average consumer in the store.

I mean, yeah there’s a lot of cool stuff, but that’s sort of all it is – A LOT of “stuff”.

Maybe that’s the way to sell to your target audience, but I would personally turn around and walk out.

I used to work in electronics sales, and people were often overwhelmed by computers. The specs, the software, the various peripherals. Many were so overwhelmed that they refused to buy because they felt they could never know enough to make an informed decision.

So, as a sales strat, I would solve problems pertinent to the customer. For the grandparents, I’d demo Solitaire and something like Skype. Students would get Office and printers demos. The small business owner would receive a demo of some basic accounting package and larger monitors.

I know this is a bit dated, but I think it is still relevant. “Smart” products are easier to understand than the Smart Home concept. Smart products that are relevant to the consumer and solve immediate problems are even more understandable.

I think the demo would work better if broken down into problems to be solved. I think the simulated break-in is a good example of this, but it might also cause customers to shutdown because the last thing they want to think about is someone breaking in to steal all their cool stuff.

2 Likes

Totally agree! The demo area is setup to be able to show everything (In fact I missed the whole area to the left which is the Living Room with the large screen theater area :confused: ) but only the part that is of interest to the customer is actually demoed. For example Lighting and or Security are right now the two biggest demos and I didn’t show how they are demoed. Lighting has the typical voice on-off-dim but also Party mode color flashing lighting with the music playing, and Police flashing lights when an Intrusion is detected.

2 Likes