Big Ticket Items Get Discovered Online

Returning from the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition Manna representatives reported that attendees were upbeat, but not ecstatic about an upturn in the economy.  The general optimism was generated by surveys that show more people browsed for products online than in stores, 92% compared to 84%

Nick Mansilla and Dave Tomaschko speaking with IRCE attendees

The ATG reported earlier this year that 30% of consumers use more than three channels of information to research and then purchase products.  For example, they get a catalog, use the company’s website, and consider product reviews. Other channels of information are news articles, Word of Mouth, and advertising.

This statistic also reflects the overwhelming concern among retailers which is integration of the customer experience, from online, catalogs and in-store experiences.  That experience we believe is continued until the product is in its final destination.  Manna representatives Nick Mansilla and David Tomaschko listened to these concerns from retailers.  The options are limited with parcel carriers who don’t handle big ticket items, and with electronics, there are other issues such as fragility and installation that typical delivery providers don’t offer.

Internet Retailer Shows Attendees Up 40% from last year

Another sign the economy is coming back was the 40% increase in IRCE attendee traffic. According to Mansilla and Tomaschko the show floor was busy with considerable interest in Manna Distribution’s high-speed, white-glove service options.  Manna’s national coverage and expertise in a variety of product lines, including electronics, appliances, and furniture gives retailers a one stop (pardon the pun) transportation option.  Email info@Manna.com.

Getting Social With Internet Retailers

Manna sales representatives report that social media in online retailing was a major topic of discussion at the Internet Retailer Conference and Exhibition (IRCE) show floor. A recent study by Dynamic Logic of social network users, 71% of them follow retail brands and 48% follow Consumer Package Goods brands.

Social network users follow retail brands

Manna works with online retailers at IRCE

Manna sales rep David Tomaschko reported the show attendees were mostly upbeat about the future, with many taking an aggressive marketing approach to social media usage. Online retailers today are increasing their participation with pages on the major sites, many have a presence on Facebook with others creatively using sites such as flickr.

Retailers with Social Network Pages

For more on how retailers are using social networks, here is an interview with eMarketer retail analyst Jeffrey Grau and Albert Maruggi host of the Marketing Edge Podcast.

Manna participates with online retailers who are trying innovative ways to market their products. The Roominations website and @Bigscreendeals on Twitter are a couple of examples of how Manna is supporting its customers online presence.

Samsung Builds Its Customer Community 



The more complicated technology gets the greater the importance of the community.   Samsung HDTV is among the leading brands of HDTVs on the market.   TV was once the focal entertainment part of the home, but started to lose its dominant spot as the Internet and mobile devices captured the imagination of consumers.  Time is finite and these devices and their content are taking time away from TV.  Smart companies evaluate their unique strengths compared to the changes going on around them and make adjustments.


Samsung is making those adjustment and building on its core strength of great picture quality and screen size.  Well, size is just a function of the space you have in your home and the money in your bank account (or credit limit, speaking to Americans here ) Taking those two data points, content that is no longer distributed through the traditional television channels and the unique quality and size of picture, Samsung has been a pioneer in  funneling the content people are using online through its dynamic, high definition and clear screens, which include plasma, LED, LCD and now some with 3D.

In this video from Samsung you’ll see how they are incorporating social networking, and other content available through your PC that can be channeled to your big, beautiful screen.  
 

In addition, Samsung created a community on its website. They are taking social media seriously in their products and their interaction with customers.

This is a terrific site with a discussion on types of technology and videos.  Then there is this brand new section on Samsung apps It’s so new they don’t have the FAQ section up, but do have a navigation link to it with a Coming Soon description.   “Life moves pretty fast, as Ferris Beuller says, “if you don’t stop and look around once in a while you could miss it.”   These sites will keep you plugged in to a world of social networks and on-demand content that loves to be connected.  



Here are some great deals from online retailers: 
B&H Photo Samsung 3D HDTV
Beech Camera - Samsung with Internet@TV technology
J & R  A huge 60″ state of the art Samsung at an unbelievable price  







Modular Furniture Saves Space, Looks Great

The Design Blog comes up with some wild furnishings. Taking a page from Legos, modular furnishings blend style with function, especially in space conscious apartment living. You can essential have 4 or 5 chairs, a bed, a chaise lounge, or one chair for a very tall person.

Modular furniture that saves space while looking marvelous

Climb on the CaseChair

Here’s another piece that incorporates thoughtful design while saving space. A book case and reading chair combination. You have to love the Chaircase piece by Gail Peter Borden. It comes in walnut, birch and CDX ply. There is a shelf on the back for a, what else, reading lamp. Around the perimeter is designed shelving as part of the chair that can hold up to 400 paperbacks. This will be a collector’s item for sure. I may be the last Chaircase made. If iPad sales continue the way they are, you’ll use those shelves for out-of-print books or nicknacks, power plug ins for your ear buds, wireless printers, keyboard, mouse, speakers. You get the idea. Where there is a shelf there is an item for it.

The Next Big Thing in HDTV – HD Projectors

When most people think of stylish options for television and video, they think of the latest model of flat screen, not projectors. Projectors, after all, are made to blend into the background, hidden on shelves and in drop downs in the back of the room.

Until now.

The Coolist has the goods on the latest HD projector, the OO Wireless projector, designed by David Riesenberg. Not only is the sleek design a major improvement over the clunky boxes we are used to, but the projector itself is said to feature wireless capabilities. A lithium battery will provide three hours of uninterrupted power, good for all but the longest of movies.

Unencumbered by wires, and featuring premium aesthetics, the projector can finally be released from the wall. Homes with rooms that are not conducive to conventional HD setups may now be able to feature fully-functional home theater systems.

For some larger rooms the projector may make perfect sense, in other situations like retail spaces, a large screen can envelope the audience and create a terrific in-person HDTV experience. In the past, you lost some quality of picture by using a projector. Now with an HD projector you don’t have to compromise picture quality for picture size.

Classic! Turner Classic Movies Makes the Move to HD

Classic film buffs are buzzing about Turner Classic Movies finally becoming available in High Definition (HD). Ted Turner, of course, is known for loving restorations (and a few controversial ones ) but most agree that the films shown on TCM represent the rich history of American cinema.

Who would have thought, decades ago, that we would one day have the opportunity to watch Billy Wilder classics in our own home, with even more clarity than the original print? There was a time in history when we thought many of these films would be lost to the ages (a fate which has met only a small handful of films ).

Of course, if you want to enjoy Turner Classic Movies in High Definition, you have to have HD ready electronic equipment. If you were waiting to upgrade to a home theater system, thinking that HDTV was only for football games and pay per view, now might be the time to make the move.

One more thing, letterbox viewing can be fun, especially since it’s the way the director intended and you have a really big HDTV screen in a really dark room. You get that movie theater like experience that makes you smell buttered popcorn. Anyway, there are some who don’t like the letterbox view or believe if you watch plenty of letterbox style movies your HDTV screen will wear unevenly. CNET has an interesting piece on whether to configure your HDTV screen to remove the black bars in the letterbox and stretch the moving image to fill the screen.

One way to get that theater effect is to put a big screen in a small dark room. Big like 60″ LG Plasama Big

For the best prices for modern viewing of Classic films check

• B & H Video
• Beach Camera
• JR Audio
• Electronics Expo

Books Can Be Deceiving

These are cool ways to jazz up a wall. Combination optical illusion and space savers, this selection of bookcases found by Will Maak, co-founder and editor of Fashion Furniture is a blast to look at. Below are a couple of my favorites, check out the rest at the Fashion Furniture site.

Above is the Pyramid bookcase by Fitting

For a slightly different play on triangles, try this

This one is call make/shift designed by Peter Marigold. It’s interlocking pieces are cleverly made so you can create a different look by arranging each separate section together with the others.

Books afterall are square or rectangles, and this one below incorporates those shapes with an eye toward an urban skyline.

And it’s appropriately named, this Skyline Bookcase is the work of Italian designer Vincenzo De Cotiis

Three Keys To Great HDTV Picture Quality

Six weeks from now the Final Four teams of the NCAA March Madness tournament will play for the men’s basketball championship in Indianapolis.  Unless you have an HDTV delivered and installed an hour before tip-off you will succumb to the temptation to make that picture just a little bit more perfect than it already is. This temptation usually coincides with misplacing the manual (or for men, not caring where it is).  Before you start fiddling with the remote, commit the following to memory and you’ll have the foundation for getting a solid picture for all occasions. The three keys according the the website How Stuff Works are:

Black Level - Use a letterboxed scene that has light and dark areas. Pause the movie on a frame to use as a test image. Slowly decrease black level until the bars are black and you can still see the details on the screen.  Too much black will will hide black colors in a darker scene.

Contrast – This is basically the opposite of the black level.  Choose a scene that has lots of detail on a white background. Slowly decrease the contrast until the intensity of the white surface doesn’t hurt your eyes but you can still see the details clearly.

Color Saturation – In this area of adjust you use skins tones of a person with a fair complexion. Reduce the saturation until the person appears to have a healthy glow rather than a sunburn with reddish hues.

Black Level, Contrast, & Color

Check the article by Tracy V Wilson How Stuff Works for more ideas

Great Deals on HDTVS

For some people bigger is better, in fact it’s HUGE – For you, take a look at the LG 60″ Plasma from Beach Camera That’s under $2,000 including White Glove delivery

Others looking for less screen size for a smaller room and half the price consider the Samsung 46″ LCD from Beach Camera

This is a 46″ LCD 1080p  Sharp Aquos with good reviews for under $1000 from JR.

Panasonic makes some excellent plasma screens, this 58″ has Neo PDP technology delivers sharp, detailed images, deep blacks and remarkable brightness, with lower power consumption / Up to 2,000,000:1 High Contrast, A big HDTV for under $1,500 at JR

Follow Bigscreendeals on Twitter to get the latest information and price saving values on HDTVs

PC Mag Makes the Call, But I Throw the Challenge Review Flag

Wendy Sheehan Donnell wrote a nice piece in PC Mag called “HDTVs for the Big Game” highlighting how there are great, and I mean great buys on HDTVs. If you act fast in certain markets and destinations you can get that beautiful picture in your home in time for the game. Every brand is priced competitively, but now is the time to go for that quality brand that may have been once out of your range, but now may well be affordable.

For example the Sony Bravia Series is always highly rated, the PC Mag piece lists the KDL 46XBR8 that was list priced at $3999, can be found for $1,999 – but you can do better yet, J&R has this Sony Bravia KDL46XBR9 for under $1,700 . Look I know prices are always in motion, which is why it’s good to follow websites like Roominations www.roominations.net and the Twitter profile @bigscreendeals for great deals in big screen HDTVs. We will bring you highlights of some great deals. This year will be particularly good for HDTV enthusiasts because of the introduction of 3D HDTV. That will be the bleeding edge of the market for 2010, but those kind of year always have good value pricing on current mainstream technology, which is more suited to my budget with five kids to still help get through college.

Here are some more deals to consider with hundreds of dollars of savings, once you finish your Super Bowl office pool.

J & R has several Sony Bravia series and a huge Toshiba at great prices

Sony KDL-52W5100 52″ Class BRAVIA W Series LCD HD Television

Sony KDL-52W5100 52″ Class BRAVIA W Series LCD HD Television

Toshiba 55ZV650U 55.0″ Class REGZA 1080p HD LCD TV with ClearScan 240

If you are a Samsung fan, and I swear by Samsung, Butterfly Photo has one of the sets in the PC Mag rating at a terrific price.

Samsung UN40B7000 40″ 1080p 120Hz LED LCD HDTV

Now back to the game.

Big Screen Deals On Twitter

Hi, I’m Linda Meehan of Manna Distribution. Our company is full of people that approach their work differently. They are straight talkers, admit mistakes, believe in fairness and respect it when people take responsibility.

We believe the only way for Manna to do well is for our customers to do well. These customers include some of the largest online retailers on the web who are constantly offering great products at competitive prices. That means consumers win too. We will be using the @bigscreendeals account on Twitter to showcase deals from these Manna customers on big screen televisions. If you are in the market for a big screen TV follow us and re-tweet those deals you think are among the best. We will also provide links to comparison sites as well as write ups on our own blog Roominations in the electronics section.

Any ideas on how we can provide worthwhile information related big screens or HDTVs, pass them along in this comment section.

Get Grossed Out – Then Get Serious

203lbs all in one place

I’m taking one for the team here. I’m putting myself out on the line to get more readers and perhaps motivate someone, even if that someone is me. In Roominations’ version of the Biggest Loser, I am using my own profile to inspire me to lose weight in 2010.

I’ll turn 51 next week and I, like many Americans, have to lose a little weight. OK, OK a little is a relative term, let’s get precise. If I can get from 203lbs to 175lbs I will feel much better. This is my New Year’s Resolution for 2010 and I’m committed to achieving it.

This picture might gross you out. It is the wallpaper on my phone and I use as a personal reminder not to reach for that jelly donut and instead to press on for another 5 minutes on the bike. Caution, a smile, ROFL, (roll on floor laughing) or nausea may result from viewing this photo for too long.

A couple of years ago, cycling was a great form of exercise for me. That was about 40 pounds and two years ago. Because I live in Minnesota, I need to bring that workout inside for half the year. I am fine with putting my road bike on a trainer, but I’ll readily admit the better way is to go with an exercise bike machine. There is nothing like the kind of workout and metrics you get from a good machine. The performance measurements are essential if you are working toward a goal. Plus the resistance and programming for hills and speed is something stationary trainers can’t provide. Those increments of victory and increased levels of programming will put you in better shape to start the outdoor season from the first signs of Spring.

Sports Unlimited, an online retailer of all kinds of sports equipment, has an excellent quick guide to purchasing Exercise Bikes

Don Ball of Sports Unlimited says, “A recumbent bike is an excellent choice for people, particularly for those who don’t ride on a regular basis.  Recumbent bikes take pressure off of the spine and reduce the possibility of your back bothering you while you ride. The fact that this bike converts to a rowing machine is awesome.  It has long been determined that rowing uses more muscle groups than any other single form of exercising, and it even works the abs.  This bike is affordable and provides some variety for the workout.  Generally the mental aspect of workouts is the toughest part.  Combine this with some dumbbells, and you can have a great workout in your home with little space requirements.  Resistance training, some form of weights or bands, is as important as aerobic such as bike, rower, treadmill, or elliptical workouts.”

Stamina recumbent bike

Sports Unlimited has a great deal on the Stamina Conversion II recumbent exercise bike/rowing machine, number 15-9003A.

Ball also has seen purchases of exercise equipment pick up at this time of year, even into January as people get serious about changing their lifestyle. Sports Unlimited uses Manna Distribution for high-speed, white-glove delivery, so your equipment will get to you fast and you are excited to get your program underway.