By Marissa Garcia, Global Director at Xperi
As the retail buzz of Prime Day fades, a pressing question remains for UK retailers: how can you continue to make your Smart TV offerings stand out now that the discount-driven rush is over? Elevated customer expectations, emerging technologies, and shifting buying habits all demand more than fleeting sales tactics. Instead, retailers must look further—leveraging innovation, partnerships, and experience to create lasting value both in-store and online.
For many retailers, July has become a crucial planning period—a ‘Christmas in July’—not in the sense of mid-year promotions, but as the critical window to analyse consumer trends from Prime Day and begin crafting strategies that will truly differentiate them in the high-stakes run-up to the Christmas season. The decisions made now can shape whether your brand stands out during the festive shopping surge or gets lost among offers.
Savvy consumers are actively seeking devices that deliver lasting value. They’re investing in the heart of their home entertainment. While dazzling 4K (or 8K!) resolution, expansive screen sizes, and immersive sound quality remain crucial purchase drivers, today’s buyer cares just as deeply about what happens after they turn the TV on.
Research commissioned by TiVo underscores this evolution, with consumers spending 116.5 hours a year – that’s nearly 5 full days – simply searching for content they want to watch on their Smart TVs, leading to rising frustration. Meanwhile, 91% of respondents cited ease of use as a priority feature when purchasing a new Smart TV, making the TV interface just as important as screen size or definition.
Today’s Smart TV consumer wants simplicity, personalisation, and control. They want a Smart TV that feels intuitive, learns their preferences, and seamlessly surfaces the shows and movies they’ll love, without pushing paid placements or burying their favourite apps.
This shift presents a golden opportunity for retailers to stand-out beyond tentpole events like Prime Day and its bargain rush.
The key to unlocking value: collaboration
The answer to grasping that opportunity lies in the partnership between retailers, Smart TV Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Smart TV Operating System (OS) providers.
OS providers are the architects of the Smart TV experience. They work hand-in-hand with OEMs to design the interface, curate content discovery pathways, and integrate streaming services. Their focus is on delivering core experiential benefits that resonate deeply with the modern viewer:
- Unbiased, relevant recommendations: Moving beyond simple algorithms or paid promotions to offer genuinely personalised suggestions based on actual viewing habits, helping users discover hidden gems without feeling advertised at.
- Intuitive interfaces: Creating interfaces that are easy to navigate for all users, minimising clicks to content, logically organising settings, and ensuring smooth performance.
- Greater control & customisation: Empowering users to tailor their home screen, organise apps their way, manage profiles, and easily access parental controls.
- Streamlined content aggregation: Reducing the friction of switching between apps by integrating search and discovery across multiple streaming platforms where possible.
Actionable steps for smart TV retailers
- Co-created marketing & messaging: Work directly with OEMs and OS providers on ongoing promotional materials. Highlight the unique experiential benefits of specific TV models powered by a particular OS. Feature these benefits prominently in online banners, email campaigns, and social media posts.
- In-store experience is king: Cut through the noise with dedicated demo stations. Partner with OS providers to showcase the interface live and train sales associates to actively demonstrate the benefits of a Smart TV with an intuitive OS.
- Empower your sales associates: Equip sales associates with the knowledge they need to highlight the strengths of different Smart TVs and operating systems, train them to ask the right questions about customer viewing habits/frustrations, and make sure they have the skills to demonstrate different OS features as they become available.
- Targeted visuals for managers & VM teams: Provide store managers and visual merchandising teams with clear guidelines and assets (digital and physical) emphasising the OS experience. This could include:
- Standees or shelf-talkers with QR codes linking to short videos demoing the OS.
- Side-by-side comparison charts that include key experiential features alongside hardware specs.
- Content focus online: Structure online product pages to give the OS experience equal billing. Include dedicated sections describing the interface, content discovery features, and ease of use, potentially using short video demos or clear screenshots. Use customer reviews that mention positive experiences with the interface.
From prime to purpose: a shift in retail strategy
Ultimately, those who start planning now—taking learnings from the summer and translating them into festive strategies—will be best placed to capture attention, secure loyalty, and establish their Smart TVs as must-have gifts and upgrades for the season.
The countdown to Christmas doesn’t start when we open the first window on our advent calendars. For retailers, it starts in July, with strategic choices that set the stage for successful, differentiated retail through the busiest months of the year and beyond.
