Just returned from Las Vegas where ICP Solar was exhibiting at the annual CES Electronics Fair.
While general attendance seemed significantly down this year, due to budget cutbacks by retailers who sent less people and for shorter time, ICP Solar’s booth was plenty busy. The buzz around solar energy in general is quite big this year, and there was even a “Green Gadget” area at the show, although most of the products were simple rehashes of old themes.
The key to ICP Solar’s success was depth. Depth of product, depth of knowledge and depth of people. We had a great crew ready to serve and we came back with hundreds of cards. Now I’ll agree that its not the volume of leads, more the quality, yet it seemed that we had less “tire kickers” and more retailers who genuinely want to go deeper with us in range of offerings. With 2009 proving to be a tough year ahead, more and more retailers are looking to name brands, which ICP Solar is unique in offering our space. Consumers, already mistified by the category, turn to our Sunsei and Coleman brands more in times of tight budgets, even if they cost more, as proven recently by competitive side by side tests at one particular retailers, where ICP Solar’s products sold 2 to 1 in dollars vs a noname competitor with similar items and shelf space. That will tell the tale this year where we are well positioned to gain market share and new product offerings from our whopping R&D expenses of last year will be launched.
It is exhausting to do these fairs, yet we get lots of market feedback and get to gain insight on where the retailers think the market is going in our category for next year.
That’s it for now, I am tired from all this flying around and do wish to take this opportunity to wish my readers a very Happy New Year.
Sass