digimag-october-2021.dealerscope.comDealerscope DigiMag October 2021

× Content x DigiMag October 2021 Pulse Voices Nationwide Marketing Group Retail Rumblings Image Makeover Optimizing E-Commerce Content Powerful Women In Consumer Tech 2021 Distributor Roundup Brandsource Q&A Nationwide PrimeTime Hit Live/Virtual Hybrid Events Connected Health Connected Tech Health & Wellness Stat Shot Podcast CT Events Subscribe To Our Publications Get In Touch Masthead Menu Inside the Dealerscope October 2021 DigiMag: From audio and wearables to retail and research, the full gamut of CE is represented among the nine honorees (and three up-and-comers) in the 2021 Powerful Women in Consumer Technology Awards. Read our interviews with each of these team leaders in tech. Plus, an overview of air purifiers, tips on improving your social media feeds, and a roundup that asks distributors how they’re handling inventory issues for the dealers they serve. Happy reading! A WORD FROM OUR PUBLISHER Congratulations to the Dealerscope 2021 Powerful Women in Tech In August, I attended ProSource, Nationwide PrimeTime, BrandSource, and CEDIA. Some of you are thinking I was crazy; I know, but nothing is the same as seeing people face to face. That much was evident at Nationwide Primetime; I never before saw such a sea of smiles, so happy to be out and in person. Mind you, I did all the smart things, like limiting personal contact, having early dinners, avoiding socializing at bars open to the public, and staying in my room during the evening. Thankfully, my COVID tests are negative, and I was glad to be out and about. Make sure to check out our feature on live and hybrid events in this issue. Our October issue is one of my favorites, because it’s where we honor the wonderful female energy in our industry. I personally congratulate all the women we’re featuring in this annual awards section. In August, at Nationwide PrimeTime, we launched a new program called Dealerscope Insider Look,” where we attended events and moderated panels on video. One of the best was the Women in Nationwide” panel. These women are intelligent, successful, fun, and great mentors to all genders in our industry. I invite you to look at this panel at https://dealerscope.com/insider-look/ Dealerscope has lots more amazing content in October that I encourage you each to read. In Nancy Klosek’s Distributor Roundup, she polls distribution companies about how their businesses are doing and what initiatives are at the forefront of their strategies moving into 2022. Also, we welcome the editorial contribution from our monthly partnership with Parks Associates. Within this issue, Parks provide a great column on Personalization in Connected Health: Impact of AI,” which touches on remote telehealth trends. Lloyd Wood, from GfK Etilize, offers tips on optimizing your e-commerce pages via better product content — very important, as we ride out this pandemic. In the Voices column, Tom Samiljan, our Editor in Chief, writes about the new focus on HR and workplace culture, which includes comments from John Riddle at Howard’s on its Wellness initiative. We also write about how to improve your social media with great quality images, examine several smart water devices, and cover the burgeoning air purifier market. You can see that the Wellness category is here to stay. We hope that we are bringing you the information you need to improve your day-to-day business. If there are any topics that you feel need to be covered, feel free to contact me at tmonteleone@ctlab.media . Tony Monteleone, Group Publisher of CT Lab Global Media A WORD FROM OUR EDITOR IN CHIEF Treat Them Right Hiring challenges force employers to finally focus on quality-of-workplace life and employee incentives. If you’ve had trouble keeping employees or filling open positions lately, you’re not alone. Americans are quitting their jobs in droves — four million in April alone, according to the US. Department of Labor. Whether it’s because they found better positions or just burned out after more than 18 months of pandemic-era pressure, employees are on the move and the trend is real. The result is, for the first time in what seems like decades, employers are starting to think about more than short-term profits and strategies to please shareholders. They’re no longer ignoring that other vital group of stakeholders, without which nothing would function: the employees. At the recent 2021 BrandSource convention in Nashville, the buying group led with workforce analog and digital tools for independent retailers to help them recruit, hire, and retain employees. And in August, Southern California appliance retail chain Howard’s launched a health and wellness initiative that encompasses everything from a well-compensated intern program and flexible work schedule to easily available COVID testing and company-funded yoga and other wellness programs. Howard’s CEO John Riddle credits this initiative to Johnny La Pasta, a Long Beach, Calif.-based corporate wellness consultant who not only trains the chief executive on yoga, meditation, and other fitness, but is also spearheading the initiative at Howard’s. In a recent interview with Dealerscope , Riddle said: I saw the transformation in my own mind and body and thought, why can’t this be something we support on a broader basis?” Riddle realized that mindful, slow, and long-term practices such as yoga and meditation might not be accessible to many Howard’s employees due to scheduling, location, or cost. And he wanted to make sure these programs were available to all employees, regardless of position. What I see in our industry, in retail at least, is a lot of companies are doing things for the corporate or office level, but there aren’t as many offering such practices for individuals in the field at the in-store or location level,” said Riddle. I want all the staff to feel like they’re valued and that they see these sessions as an added benefit of working at Howard’s. And I think the next level from a business standpoint is that it enables retention in an economy that’s making it tough to hire good staff.” While Riddle doesn’t have any specific figures around employee retention or productivity from the health and wellness initiative, he says Howard’s isn’t having any issues hiring or losing people. We’re full up.” Investing in a wellness program might not seem like a luxury for a growing company like Howard’s, but is such a holistic and initially unquantifiable approach within reach for smaller independent retailers? Of course it’s easier for a company like ours that has a good size number of folks, since we can spread the cost better on a per-headcount basis,” said Riddle, but I don’t see any reason why Nationwide, BrandSource, NATM, or other groups couldn’t organize something with this. Or independent retailers could just team up with other dealers for these sorts of things. Some insurance companies may even be willing to give a break on costs if it’s part of a company wellness program.” With organizations such as Nationwide now offering insurance options via Lockton Health to its members, could expanded health and wellness initiatives be that far off? Tom Samiljan CE RETAIL TECHNOLOGY October 2021 CE News Companies Gear Up for Holiday Surge Amid Staffing Shortages | In-store shopping took a hit last holiday season as the coronavirus pandemic forced buyers to look online or pick up in-store, but this year, retailers are already planning for a renewed demand for in-store shopping. Walmart is looking to hire more than 20,000 part-time and full-time workers to staff up for the holiday. E-commerce giant Amazon wants to hire 55,000 new workers, with the majority based in the U.S. Drugstore chain Walgreens said it plans to raise its starting wage from $10 to $15 across the board by 2022. READ MORE Ebikes at Best Buy | Best Buy is getting in on the electric bike and scooter craze. The company will sell a variety of small electric vehicles from makers including Segway, Ninebot, Super73, Swift, and...