Report: CE State Of The Industry 2023

Sales of premier consumer technology products – smartphones, TVs, PCs/tablets, smart home, for instance – continue to dip. High-interest rates, inflation, and recession fears continue to either delay discretionary consumer purchasing or are pushing consumers to “trade down” to lower-priced goods. Many vendors and retailers are still sitting on accumulated inventory and Covid-crippled supply chains haven’t completely healed. Changing staffing and workplace dynamics are challenging operational stability. Even the war in Ukraine has introduced a layer of uncertainty within the industry.

Considering these economic and business pressures, what’s the consensus view of the state of the CE industry from retailers, vendors, and analysts polled by TWICE?

Meh.

Read the rest of this report here at TWICE.com.

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Supply Chain Visibility: Inside USAopoly’s Evolution Into a Data-First Organization

It’s widely accepted that access to and analysis of data drives better outcomes across an operation. The problem faced by USAopoly, a Southern California-based specialty game maker also known as The Op Games, was determining the most time- and cost-efficient ways to collect that data and how much time data collection should monopolize.

Read the rest of this story here at Consumer Goods Technology.

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The Midea U-Shaped Window AC Quietly Delivers Superior Cooling

As we sweat through a record-hot summer, room air conditioners are not only desired but a potential lifesaver. Unfortunately, even the quietest window AC unit can fill a room with a loud continuous hum on the level of an airplane engine, making the cooling cure nearly as bad as the sweltering disease.

The Midea U 8,000 BTU window AC ($399), however, thanks to a radically different U-shaped design, blows cold air in a whisper, and is, by far, the quietest window AC I’ve ever owned.

Read the rest of this review here at Techlicious.com.

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New Bluetooth Standard Makes Electronic Shelf Labels Viable

Your store is stocked with the latest bleeding-edge technologies for sale. But how do your customers know how much each of those high-tech wonders costs? Likely via decidedly low-tech paper or plastic price tags.

It may be time to make your shelf labels as high-tech as the products for sale on your shelves.

Read the rest of this story here at TWICE.com.

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How Heineken’s Internal Data Platform Drives Consumer-Centric Decision Making

Making consumer-centric decisions is table stakes for consumer goods companies today, which is why Heineken has stood up Knowledge & Insight Management (KIM) — its internally branded cloud-based knowledge and insights platform that’s designed to incorporate the best features of search engines, AI capabilities, and security for capturing and analyzing consumer data. 

Read the rest of this story here at Consumer Goods Technology.

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SmartTechCheck Podcast: AirBNB, iPhone legacy, consumer electronics slump, AI detection woes

I join Super SmartTechCheck podcast host Mark Vena, John Quain and Rob Pegoraro to discuss AirBnB efforts to recruit more hosts, AI photo detection woes, the legacy of the original iPhone, and the consumer electronics slump.

Tune into the podcast here on YouTube.

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Our 9 Favorite 15-Inch Laptops

How small is too small for a laptop computer? How big is too big? A laptop with a 15- to 16-inch display, measured diagonally, is the just-right size for many—the most convenient convergence of productivity versus portability.

Read the rest of this roundup here at Popular Mechanics.

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CGT/RIS League of Leaders

I covered four sessions at the CGT/RIS News League of Leaders meeting last week at the Amazon Ads Building in New York for Consumer Goods Technology.

How Savencia Is Growing and Evolving Its DTC Strategy

Sustainable Doesn’t Always Mean Expensive: How Mars and The Container Store Are Weaving Greener Business

How to Find, Keep, Replace, and Reskill Talent

Someone’s Missing in Retailer-CPG Negotiations

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SmartTechCheck Podcast: Apple WWDC 23 Recap

A “feisty” SmartTechCheck podcast hosted by Mark Vena with myself and fellow tech journalists Rob Pegoraro, John Quain, and AppleDsgn’s Niels Van Straaten on the major themes coming out of Apple WWDC 23.

Watch this podcast here on YouTube.

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The Best OTC Hearing Aids to Match Your Hearing Needs and Lifestyle

You’ve grudgingly admitted to yourself that you don’t hear as well as you once did. You find yourself turning up the TV volume to the annoyance of your roommate, spouse, or kids, and/or resorting to closed captioning. You find yourself asking people to repeat what they just said way too frequently. Concerts are still ear-stingingly loud, but you have a hard time making out individual instruments or the words the singers are singing. Conversations with wait staff in restaurants, sales or check-out people, train conductors, medical office personnel, or friends, family, or co-workers at social gatherings have become hard if not impossible to follow, with voices from the folks right in front of you drowned out by the mass of chattering and ambient sound around you.

Read the rest of this OTC hearing aid buyers guide here at Techlicious.com.

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