Not content with simply selling tablets, retailers including Tesco, Next and Argos have developed own-brand devices. Retail Week takes a look at the market as Aldi enters the fray.
Why are we talking about this now?
Grocer Aldi is the latest retailer to enter the own-brand tablet market and launched its device in time to benefit from the surge in shoppers coveting the product this Christmas. Aldi today began selling its £79 Lifetab E7316 device. It follows the success of Tesco’s Hudl tablet.
How has Tesco’s tablet stood out in the market?
Hudl, the Tesco tablet, is a 7-inch device much like the iPad mini, Google Nexus 7 and the Amazon Kindle Fire.
However, Tesco undercut rivals with the £119 Hudl. It integrates Tesco’s apps and offers fast access to its Blinkbox video on demand service.
The grocer sold 35,000 of the devices in the first two days since its launch in September. Tesco has sold out of the device twice in the run up to Christmas and is expected to unveil a second generation of the device in 2014.
Is Tesco the only retailer to move into tablet production?
No. US etail giant Amazon’s Kindle Fire holds a 4.5% share of the global tablet market and some UK retailers have launched their own device to grab a slice of the market.
Next introduced an own-brand 10-inch tablet in 2011 priced at £180. However, it has since stopped producing the device.
WHSmith has an exclusive partnership with tablet Kobo in the UK and Ireland.
Argos entered the fray with its CnM Touchpad tie-up last year, which it sells in 7-inch, 9-inch and 10-inch versions and this year introduced its £100 MyTablet device which uses Google’s Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2 operating system.
Dixons has signed an exclusive deal to sell the slightly higher end Advent Vega Tegra Note 7 device at £180.
Why are retailers launching tablets?
The tablet market is booming and the device is once again tipped to be a top-seller this Christmas. Sales of tablets in western Europe more than doubled year on year in the first half of 2013, according to research firm Context.
As well as Tesco’s tablet driving incremental sales for the grocer, Hudl is also designed, through shortcuts to its web store and Blinkbox app, to drive sales of products on Tesco.com in categories that have increasingly migrated online, in particular DVDs, music and books.
Can retailers compete with existing brands such as Apple?
Market leader Apple’s dominance is on the wane. In the second quarter of 2013 the US technology giant held 42.7% of the global market, down from 71.2% year on year, meaning there is a big opportunity in the UK for retailers to launch their own tablets.
Dixons chief executive Seb James pointed out in June that just a third of UK households have a tablet.
“We think these are personal devices so there’s lots of road left in this particular product,” he said.
No comments yet