Should You Offer Appliances in Your Showroom?

There's a store in Worcester, Mass. that New Englanders know as "Percy's of Woosta." When they walk in the front door and look to the left, Percy's is a specialty electronics store. When they walk in and look to the right, Percy's is a major appliance store.

It's both, of course. Since the 80-plus-year-old store added consumer electronics in the 1980s, Percy's TV and Appliance has been doing what many CE pros would like to start doing -- selling both.

If you can overcome the distribution and merchandising hurdles (and stomach the lower margins), then merging appliances with consumer electronics in your showroom may help you

• weather an economic downturn
• bring in a broader clientele
• add some "total connected home" mystique to your operation

Diversification Helps Profits in a Tough Economy

It's a great way to diversify, says Dave Lavine, who runs Percy's with his brother Alan.

He points out that while several specialty electronics dealers are currently weathering tough times, Percy's is doing well in part because appliance sales remain steady.

Appliance customers are often linked to builder and remodeler partnerships. Even though construction is down, Lavine says remodeling seems to be up. So the good times continue for Percy's.

Still, integrators probably aren't inclined to dive into the appliance business simply to diversify. There are other reasons, however, that they might consider it.

For instance, appliance manufacturers seem to be saying that refrigerators, washers, dryers and dishwashers should be part of the "connected home" -- a domain that integrators have long claimed. The high end of the appliance business is clearly going in that direction, according to Lavine.

"Manufacturers are coming out with products, like wall ovens, dishwashers or refrigerators, which will be able to connect to the Internet via Ethernet. They can do diagnostic tests on equipment before rolling a truck," Lavine says.

He adds that there is also a push among manufacturers to include concierge technology within appliances. "People can type their order into an LCD screen and dial it into the local market."

New Connected Appliances Hit the Market

Indeed, home appliances created a buzz at the last International Builders' Show in Orlando, Fla. Manufacturers seemed to be reinventing appliances' stale, boxy images with bright colors and ambitious technology.

Miele, for instance, a German manufacturer, demonstrated its RemoteVision technology for its refrigerators and wine coolers. With a small wireless WLAN chip, Miele links its appliances to a monitoring center. This way, if a machine's temperature drops, Miele can shoot a text message or call to the customer before that expensive bottle of wine spoils.

Laundry machines are all about energy efficiency, exciting new colors and buttons that allow washes to be customized. The same goes for dishwashers.

Integrators, of course, traditionally don't carry home appliances. Integrators tend to consider themselves specialists, and it's hard to offer expertise in audio, video, control -- and laundry.

There are also distribution challenges. Appliance manufacturers tend to approach distribution much differently than electronics manufacturers do, according to Lavine.

It may be difficult for electronic-centric stores to add appliances because manufacturers tend to limit the number of dealers it has in areas.

Still, for integrators that pride themselves on providing products for the connected home, now seems to be the time to consider pouncing on the appliance bandwagon.