I always get weird looks when I am shopping for appliances and I ask if it is smart. The rep gets all excited and starts talking about it. I say I don’t want a smart one. They look like I am from off world.
Things I want my fridge to be able to do, close itself if I leave it open.
Door hinges like that exist, yet where are fridges with that?
why do I want a tablet on my fridge? who does it need WiFi? why do I want ads in my kitchen?
What if you tilted your fridge back a few degrees with longer front feet or spacers under them?
sorry, they stopped adding useful things in 1982. now its only how build it cheaper and apparently extract ad revenue from their market.
kinda on brand for samsung actually
Mine beeps if the door is open too long. I wonder if I could hook that up to an automatic door closer.
Why aren’t there smaller companies looking to make a basic appliance without all of the BS? Call it “Basic Appliance” and sell it at Costco. Make it so it’s slightly less expensive than the Samsungs, etc. Maybe even put the Kirkland brand on it. Seems like the perfect money making operation.
It’s been a while since I worked on the US appliance market, but there are no smaller companies in the appliance space outside of some high European brands at the top end of the market.
I am not that well versed on the manufacturing side of the things, but I believe it is impossible for a smaller player to compete in the mass market due to extremely low margins (under ~5%), particularly in the “basic appliance” segment and the fact that manufacturing is extremely sensitive to scale (your per unit manufacturing cost will likely be significantly higher than Samsung, LG, Hair, Electrolux etc.).
Essentially, a smaller company will always have SKUs that will be more expensive than the comparable SKU from a major company while also being “offbrand” and having weaker distribution and ecosystem networks.
Costco only takes a 10 or 15% markup though. Assuming they’re doing the usual of doubling their costs, hopefully that would be under the cost of their competitors. Even if it was equal or slightly more expensive, I would support them.
It’s not the retailer side that’s the problem, it’s the manufacturing side. CostCo is almost certainly not going to get into the appliance market. It’s a difficult market that’s not very similar to other electronics or other home improvement segments. Not to mention that CostCo’s economies of scale with appliance manufacturing would be terrible. They would be limiting their hypothetical appliance manufacturing business to one retailer in one country (albeit a very large one). Not to mention current tariff risks. A “basic” class appliance SKU would be more sensitive to the relatively higher costs for manufacturing in the US. Appliances are manufactured in the US, but the economics would be more negative on a relative basis for a “basic” class appliance brand owned by a retailer.
I am not very knowledgeable about CostCo’s in-depth per-segment strategy, but I suspect appliances in particular are more sensitive to margin issues even on the retailer side. Appliances are big, bulky and difficult to deal with (on a relative basis).
Don’t get me wrong, I would welcome more competition, but what you’re proposing is likely not possible. You would probably need regulation considering the nature of the appliance market.
They’re already in the appliance market, they sell them. If you mean as a private label, they just put their name on other company’s products. I think they call it no-label or something like that.
I won’t buy “smart” appliances
There are too many solutions desperately looking for problems
My toaster doesn’t need WiFi to connect to AI
But how are you going to be able to play the latest Skyrim: Toaster Edition?
Honestly, id be more impressed if it came with Doom… but then I’m old school.
Why? You can play Doom in a PDF.
Or on a security badge. It has such low requirements
Street cred. Skyrim running on it has a different flavor that doom… that and I’m ancient enough to remember getting a doom lan running on a token ring network under dos… I guess it’s just what makes me smile. I’d also have preferred having Duke Nukem running on it over Skyrim… Yep I’ve been playing and modding Skyrim since its debut but it doesn’t kick ass and chew bubblegum. Personal nostalgia I guess.
Analog DLSS
I saved $200 on my smoker because a new model came out that had WiFi and they wanted to get rid of the old ones.
My toaster is also independent of WiFi. It connects to AI using telepathy.
As if we need more reasons not to buy Samsung appliances.
For some reason this the cognitive dissonance from modern technology reminds of an efficient form of the soviet economic model. Not so much in specifics, but in the authoritarian model of oligarchy and technology (albeit the model is far more efficient than under the USSR).
Ha ha. 😆 😂😂😂😭😭😭😭😂😭😂😭😂😭
Very smart…
Looking for an ad free subscription to the refrigerator, willing to pay small extra monthly fee
What about if the fridge platform supports Ublock Origin?
