Consumer electronics

MTC Performance was a channel sales incentive company.

And why did I go into it? Well, I had been both in consumer electronics and the computer industry for quite a long time.

And I just thought it was time to start a business.

And Since I called on many different channels of trade and I understood channel marketing quite well, even though I was a salesperson, I understood the differences in those channels and how they operate.

I worked for Sony for four years.

I was number two salesman in the country for Sony one of those years.

That's Consumer Electronics.

That's Betamax, Trinitron, et cetera, their audio group.

The latest custom installation news in minutes for busy integrators and industry professionals.

Independent retailers, suppliers and manufacturers were recognised for their achievements at the ERT Awards 2026 this week with custom installation, consumer electronics and smart domestic appliance businesses among those honoured.

The winners of the ERT Awards.

2026 were announced during a ceremony at London's Grand Connaught Rooms, bringing together retailers, manufacturers, suppliers and industry professionals from across the electrical retail sector.

Martin's Hi-Fi enjoyed one of the strongest performances of the afternoon, collecting two awards for Best Independent Electrical Retailer Shopfront and Best Independent Electrical Retailer website.

Elsewhere, Wellington's Electrical, Abbey Appliances and Dacoms of Wimborne were recognised in key retail categories.

Among product winners, Majority Audio's Bowfell Halo Atmos soundbar 5.1 Dolby Atmos surround sound system claimed Best New Product, Consumer Electronics.

Manufacturers and suppliers were also recognised for their contribution to the sector.

I am here with Ben Arnold of Sercana.

He handles the school and office and the consumer tech categories.

He just gave a great presentation at our ECRM school and office session.

So we're going to dive into some of the discussion points that he covered.

Biggest bang for the buck, whatever that bang is.

So let's dip into the categories now.

So what are the top performing segments within school and office? You can even rope in consumer tech because it's kind of a blurring right now.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, it's time to go from your favorite topic to your least favorite topic.

We're gonna do some consumer tech.

Zoe is, like, somewhere in the Bay just absolutely thrilled to not be discussing this with us.

[laughs]

So we have this incredible biological leap forward in hardware design.

But when we look at the rest of the consumer tech landscape in the sources review section, it's surprisingly, um, iterative.

Very iterative.

We have a tech check highlighting the hardware peaking in October twenty twenty-six.

I've been in various industries.

I started at HomeStore.com right out of college back in the day, um, but left there after the whole 2000 whatever that was, um, scandal with HomeStore, and went to Consumer Electronics.

I worked there for a long time.

I worked at NASCAR.