John Lewis unveils Internet of Things-based department at flagship store
IT director Paul Coby says retailer wants to bring to life how smart home devices work
John Lewis is to open a brand new smart home department at its flagship Oxford Street store in London, as interest in the Internet of Things continues to grow.
The 1,000 square foot space will open today and will aim to "demystify the concept of the smart home", according to IT director Paul Coby.
"We know there is a lot of noise around [the Internet of Things] and techies talk about connected things and devices, while other people talk about the smart home, and what we want to do is inform customers of what smart technology can provide," Coby told Computing.
John Lewis suggested that the move came in response to an 81 per cent increase in sales of smart home products in the past year. The retailer felt that it needed to be able to showcase some of these products in a suitable department so that consumers could find out more about the products before buying them.
"What we're going to do in Oxford Street is to bring to life how these devices work," said Coby (pictured below).
The department will be divided into four different zones: kitchen, entertainment, sleep and home monitoring.
The products that will be on show include the Samsung Family Hub Smart Fridge, which has a built-in touch screen that brightens up as you approach. The fridge allows consumers to shop over the internet from the fridge, and it comes equipped with a set of cameras inside the door, meaning the user can view the contents of their fridge from their phone so they know when they need to buy milk, for example.
The department will also be showing off the S+ by ResMed, a non-contact sleep tracking system that supposedly helps analyse and improve quality of sleep. Other products include an oven that lets users put dinner on before they leave the office, the Nest smoke and carbon monoxide alarm and the Netatmo welcome home camera with face recognition.