As the chief executive and president of Skyworth TV, Tony Wang sets his eyes beyond the front screen. The China-based TV manufacturer has made waves in 2020 with new 8K TV product launches, as the company looks to further penetrate the global TV market. We caught up with Wang to learn more about Skyworth’s high-end TVs and understand consumer expectations as technology continues to create whole new viewing experiences.
At CES 2020, Skyworth launched its first mass-produced 8K TV, Skyworth Q91 series. Not long afterward at the Autumn new product launch, Skyworth introduced the 8K TV Q71 series. What are your thoughts on those launches?
When we launched this year, it was important to make a splash in the global market, and not just the Chinese market. As a company, we must continually introduce new products in this competitive industry, so now we look to innovative ways to improve ‘high-definition’, such as creating higher resolution and building a new generation of products.
Skyworth Q71 series 8K LED TV
What are the customer expectations in the high-end TV market segment?
There are two fundamental expectations from consumers of this segment. The first is health – and this includes eye health. The majority of consumers are increasingly health-focused, and if they live with family, they make purchase considerations that benefit the family unit in leading a healthy lifestyle.
For instance, we spend so much time staring at screens, but the blue light emitted has a detrimental effect on our eyes. Since our TVs are large, they can be viewed from a further distance, reducing the negative effect on the eyes. Skyworth has patented technology that defends against the blue light. Our technology is able to effectively lessen the impact on our eyes.
Our focus on high-end OLED products are aimed at getting rid of blue light. Besides, with OLED, we are working towards ensuring higher content resolution for elevated consumer experiences in the future.
Second, high-end TV will change consumers’ lifestyles. Skyworth 8K TV has the ultimate picture quality, and the color accuracy can achieve the broadcast level. In the past, we would be content with watching low definition dramas and movies on our home TVs. Now, we constantly seek out more immersive experiences, for example recreating the cinematic experience such that all manner of details is clearly visible. In today’s society, consumers want more, especially in regard to enhanced color. Our current display color technology is miles apart compared to that of mobile phones or low-end TVs. This high-end display technology is important in taking our product to the next level with consumers, allowing so many possibilities – such as showing the vivid display of a food dish, creating a more evocative viewing experience for Chinese documentaries, enhancing the visual appreciation of paintings and so on.
In your opinion, what are some of the different factors in high-end TVs and what they bring to peoples’ lives?
We have to remember that with people spending more time on their phones, it can make some people feel lonely. It’s important to acknowledge the relationship that people have with personal health management. This phone-obsessed lifestyle is one we need to address by creating new ways to introduce exercise and sports in daily routines. This is a critical pathway that high-end TVs can help deliver.
How does Skyworth enhance the brand’s market competitiveness by making high-end products?
Currently, we see many companies in the global market using low price points to stay competitive. Channel-based sales require each brand to provide relatively cost-effective products. It’s a way to avoid the high cost of the personnel because they use price points to reduce reliance on in-store promotion. However, Skyworth has effectively built an offline team to enhance sales of high-end products, focusing on introducing all the innovative features of the products to users. This service comes as part of Skyworth smart TV purchases. We even have an after-sales team, who help to set up the TVs. Therefore, it doesn’t matter whether you are technically savvy, you’ll be able to make the most of a Skyworth TV purchase.
What challenges does Skyworth face as it expands into the global market?
While Skyworth is a well-known brand in China, its share of the global market is still growing at a slower pace. This is a part of the process with any brand, especially Chinese brands that are underdeveloped in the global market. In Europe, we have achieved a certain degree of visibility.
Another challenge that will become more prevalent is how geopolitics plays a role in business expansion. For example, the changing relationship dynamics between India and China can impact the market. However, by continuing to innovate and produce high-end products, we can overcome these types of obstacles.
Using our experience in China as a valuable foundation, we’ve started to develop our e-commerce operations, which are still relatively underexposed on the global stage.
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[Images provided by Skyworth TV]
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