DIGITAL SOLUTIONS
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Will Samsung’s ‘Connected’ Fridge Finally Succeed?
By Supriya Chaudhury
Samsung significantly upped the ante in terms of web-enabled home appliances with its launch of the
Family Hub Refrigerator at this month’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The Family Hub is the third “smart” refrigerator to be released by Samsung since 2012. The first two models failed to garner much interest from consumers, but with its massive 21.5-inch touchscreen panel, the Family Hub is a significant advance from its predecessors in terms of technology at least.
The Family Hub comes with a host of instant access apps including online shopping app Groceries by MasterCard, as well running a shared family calendar and the ability to connect with Samsung SmartThings-compatible home devices including a feed from your TV. However, with its $5,000 price tag, the smart fridge probably needs to offer a bit more in terms of choice and flexibility for the online grocery shopper if it is really to add value in the latest part of the home that is becoming increasingly technology friendly.
Despite the failure of previous connected refrigerators to catch on, we are all getting more used to having web-enabled technology in the room where previously the most high-tech device was the microwave. Whether it’s tapping on a tablet to look up recipes and buy ingredients online, or clicking the likes of the Amazon Dash Scanner and Dash instant order buttons to replenish store cupboards, eCommerce is now well established in the kitchen.
Samsung’s Family Hub fits well into this the realm of the Internet of Things, but like the Dash Scanner and Dash instant buy buttons, it has limits that will likely restrict its appeal. The Amazon Dash scanner is great, but it means you are restricted to buying your groceries at AmazonFresh. Amazon’s instant buy buttons are even more restricted, only being available for a select group of branded products.
For brands, the advantages of the Amazon Dash button and scanner are brand advertising, instant reordering and captive future purchases, in addition to blocking out emerging or smaller players. On the flip side, consumers are wary of a perceived lack of control in their purchase process and trading convenience for potentially higher prices given Amazon’s dynamic pricing models. It is still not clear how much consumer adoption has occurred here.
The Samsung Family Hub appears to deliver the convenience of push button reordering, but the key limitation with its Groceries by MasterCard app is that it constrains online shopping to its key integration partners FreshDirect, and ShopRite. Samsung has said it hopes to add support for Alexa, Amazon's cloud-connected AI assistant and Instacart in the near future, but they are unlikely to be available for its Spring release.
Some of the major advantages of online grocery shopping are convenience, product and retailer choice, and the ability to instantly compare prices across retailers. The extension of choice with the addition of Amazon and Instacart would go a long way toward making The Family Hub a success and third-time lucky for Samsung, albeit in limited high-end demographic.
Supriya Chaudhury is CMO of Clavis Insight. For more information, visit www.clavisinsight.com.
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