Channel Post speaks with Anthony Chow, CEO of Igloohome about the company’s channel strategy for the region.
Please brief us on your company, its vision and products. What differentiates you from your competitors in home automation segment?
Our company is based out of Singapore and we are a team of 15 at present. We have already rolled out our smart access solutions in Singapore, USA and Australia to promising reviews. Our key products, Igloohome Smart Deadbolt 02 and Smart Keybox allow home and property owners to grant access to visitors remotely, via a mobile app. Eventually we want to be the leading home innovation players.
What makes us stand out from the competition is adoption of new and innovative technology in our products and offering these solutions to a completely different user segment. Our products are specifically designed to change the way access is managed. The usual target customers range from those that require access to goods and services that are shared peer-to-peer, from houses to office, or warehouses to cars. There has already been rapid adoption of our products among home and property owners, developers and other B2B players in the sharing economy.
Why should retailers stock your products?
Our smart products are unique in that unlike most other smart devices in the market, our products do not require a Wi-Fi connection. This increases the reliability of the devices, and eliminates the worry of online hacking.
Also, there has been a rapid increase in interest and adoption of smart home and smart security systems in this region. While we do not have a distributor here, we have seen strong interest in our product from in-bound enquiries and online purchase of our product. This has resulted in Middle East region to rank amongst the top 10 countries that we ship to globally, making this a profitable opportunity for any retailers that may decide to partner with us.
What makes your channel proposition better than competitors in the market?
We have a well-structured retail channel programme and this makes us stand out from our competitors. Our strategy is to ensure that our retail partners benefit from strong margins and to this end we also provide strong support in marketing and promotion activities. We will also leverage on our existing relationships with global platforms like Airbnb to help our partners drive our brand in the Middle East. Our products have received great response from resellers and retailers in other countries and we expect similar results in this region.
How can your participation in DISTREE Middle East help you further your plans in the region?
We want to officially enter the Middle East and build a winning business here. Since our brand is new to the region, in order to successfully launch it we need a strong distribution chain. So, the purpose of attending DISTREE is to actively look for potential distributors in addition to retailers and customers that are interested in new and innovative technologies. The aim is to build our partner ecosystem here and develop long-term relationships, and we feel DISTREE is the right platform for this.
