The Power Group, a Canadian buying group that represents some of the largest independent and regional retailers in the country, celebrated the 10th anniversary of their annual dealer show earlier this week in downtown Montreal.
Al Forte, Vice President Brand and Retail, Power Group Retail Solutions tells Wifi Hifi that “approximately 250 retailers and suppliers attended the two-day VendorFair24 making it one of the best events to date.”
Vendor Fair provides manufacturers and distributors an opportunity to showcase their latest product offerings in an intimate setting with an emphasis on writing purchase orders for the busy holiday selling season. While most Vendor Fairs are heavy on one-on-one face time while thin on products that have not already been seen, this year Fair offered buyers a first-time chance to see just released products including the Bluesound Node Icon, the highest-end Bluesound streamer that features an OLED display for the first time as well as Sabre ESS9039 Dual DACs. David Dunn, a product specialist at Lenbrook America pointed out that the Node Icon on display had the serial number #0000 and was hand-delivered to Vendor Fair from CEDIA Colorado, where it was a stand-out highlight of the annual custom integration show. The Bluesound Node Icon will be available November 17th with an MSRP of $1,399 CDN.
The Gemsem Group of Companies, a new member to Power Group was on-hand with representation for both sister-companies Gemsen and Evolution and brought senior executives from Peerless and SVS to Montreal to aid with product demos. A highlight from the Gemsen booth was the launch of the new Peerless AV Seamless mounting solution that provides universal mounting, that for the first time can accommodate all panel manufacturers mounting dimensions within one product. When asked if the show has been rewarding, Edit Cantor, National Sales Manager Home Audio shared “we were very pleased with the attendance in our room and our regional Montreal rep had signed multiple new dealers that had never done business with Gemsen in the past. We also were able to show off our Soundboks party speakers at the Vendor Fair cocktail reception.”
Erikson Consumer used the Vendor Fair to introduce buyers to the Victrola line, a recent addition to Erikson Consumer as well as showing the latest integrated amps and speakers from JBL called the Stage AVR Series that is targeted to a younger demographic exploring the world of higher-end component audio perhaps for the first time.
Panel manufacturer Skyworth used Vendor Fair to introduce buyers to the expansion of the brands lifestyle series with the release of the Canvas C1 Art Display, a matte coated LED panel that mimics the look of a framed painting or photograph when not in use.
Samsung, with the largest booth at the show covering both home entertainment and appliances, showcased their new OLED S95D glare-free panel that according to Samsung Product Specialist Louis Binette, is also the brightest OLED on the market. This gorgeous panel is available in three sizes, 55” 65” and 77” with an external box that can be mounted to the back of the panel’s stand for tight quarter applications or housed externally in a credenza if space permits.
The product that truly highlights the times we live in, would certainly be awarded to Samsung who showed their new gas range that has built in cameras inside the oven that streams wirelessly to your phone or TV so you can check the progress of dinner without getting off the couch. The camera also takes a time-lapsed video of dinner cooking that can then be uploaded and shared to social media. Seems the days of talking about BTU’s and other features for enhancing the cooking experience, have been replaced with time-lapsed videos for Instagram! Brilliant or gimmicky is a hard line to follow, but in a product category that is hard to distinguish oneself from a competitor, an internal camera might just be the one feature we have all been waiting for.
