ERT Turning Point Live 2018

ERT Turning Point Live! took place last week at the Grand Connaught Rooms, London. Combined with the ERT Awards the day focused and shone light on independent electrical retailers. A series of talks and panels were held in order to shake up the sector, topics included; the future of the high street, how to improve the consumer’s journey and experience when in store and how an independent business can improve in order to survive in these uncertain times in retail. Amongst the speakers was Gekko’s Managing Director, Daniel Todaro, with his presentation ‘A Change is Gonna Come…’

Dan revealed and commented on this year’s results of ERT’s survey of independent retailers. Some interesting results came from the survey and highlighted the thoughts of the retailers on the future of the sector.

• 85% of independents who responded to the survey answered ‘Yes’ when asked “Do you think your business needs to change?”
• The number of independent retailers investing in smart home in 2018 was 43% which is a 6% YoY increase
• The retailers showed willingness to evolve with the changing market with 98% of independents expressing that they are looking in to investing in new areas.

“Retailers need to ensure that their stores remain relevant and customers want to keep coming back to them. Experience is more important than ever, and stores need be more than just places to transact”

Along with the results of the ERT Turning Point Survey Dan also spoke on research conducted by Gekko on Smart Home Technology. Gekko’s survey looked at how consumers are investing in smart home technology and it highlighted issues that independent retailers could look at to improve their customer’s journey and experience in store.

• Retail is changing but shoppers are not. 37% of people who took part revealed that they prefer to go to bricks and mortar stores to buy their smart home tech
• Security Equipment, lighting and heating systems proved the trickiest pieces of kit to install offering an opportunity to sell add-on services
• 28% of respondents admitted to never reading the instructions after buying their smart home tech.

You can find more information on Gekko’s Smart Home Survey here.

For more information on the event and full line-up of the winners please ERTonline.