For CE Pro 100 integration company Just One Touch/Video & Audio Center, there are 180,000 good reasons (as in dollars) to showcase 8K TVs to clients, as in $180,000. That impressive dollar figure is the amount the company brought in over the past weekend in a single promotion by selling three massive 98-inch Samsung 8K QLED displays.
The new Samsung 8K Model QN 98-Q 900RBF 98-inch QLED displays have an MSRP of $64,999 each. Just One Touch/Video & Audio Center just received its first units and ran a special four-day promotion for $59,997.99 each. The promotion, which started on a Thursday and ran through Sunday, included radio and TV commercials, along with print ads in the local area. By Sunday evening, the HTSA-member company had sold three units, bringing in a whopping $179,993.
“The sales of the new Samsung 8K QLED displays were beyond expectation,” says Joseph Akhtarzad, owner of Just One Touch/Video & Audio Center in Santa Monica, Calif. “With this kind of response, we have decided to display the new 98-inch TVs in all our locations, as well as keep them in stock. This shows once again how the consumer wants larger screens for their home, just like they are in the movie theater.”
Tom Campbell, corporate director/chief technologist for the company, says the trend is inescapable.
“Remember when homeowners used to think a 42-inch or a 55-inch was big? Today, a 65-inch diagonal screen is the minimum size most consumers want. People want larger and larger sets,” he notes. Samsung’s 4K QLED TVs come in 32, 43-, 49-, 55-, 65-, 75-, 82-, 85- and 98-inch sizes.
In its five retail stores, Just One Touch/Video & Audio Center plans to juxtapose the giant 8K TVs right next to smaller 4K units, so customers can see the difference in size and resolution.
Radio, Cable TV Ads Push Samsung 8K
Just One Touch/Video & Audio Center’s advertising promotions tend to focus on news radio and cable TV news channels, according to Campbell. Only one of the three buyers of the 8K 98-inch TVs over the weekend actually came into the Santa Monica location to see the TV. The other two purchases were made sight unseen. Campbell says the company will install all three sets, with two of the units being for newly constructed homes.
“We could not believe the response,” he says incredulously. “With the coronavirus situation, people are more and more needing to be entertained in their homes, and they want the best quality TV and audio they can get.”
So for any integrators wondering if it’s necessary to carry 8K displays even when there is little to no content and market is limited, this might help answer the question.
