More than a year after announcing a distribution agreement with now defunct security products distributor GVI Security, consumer electronics giant LG on Monday said that it is launching a new line of surveillance cameras and DVRs for the U.S. market.
With its entrance into the market, the company is rolling out 14 new security products including both IP and analog cameras, as well as hybrid DVRs. LG is working with Observint Technologies, a provider of operations, finance, marketing, and other services for surveillance companies, to help build a distribution network for the company’s products.
"LG is one of those products where we saw an opportunity to leverage our strengths and bring that product to market," said George Farley, chief marketing officer for Observint, which also owns surveillance equipment distributor Supercircuits. "We also maintain relationships with other distribution outlets and we’re looking to build a strategic network of distribution companies to optimize the LG go to market (strategy)."
According to John Taylor, a vice president with LG Electronics USA, the company is not new to security business and has done well selling its products in the Asian, European and Latin American markets. "The United States is kind of the last, untapped, major developed market for LG security products," he said.
Taylor said a variety of factors came into play before LG decided to make its U.S. debut. "Looking at our own product line versus what the competitive landscape is out there right now, finding the right partner to launch this from a distribution standpoint and all of the stars aligned and made this an attractive time for LG to enter the market," he said.
He said that the strength of the LG brand in the U.S. was also a factor they took into consideration. "If you look at where we are today in terms of strength of the LG brand in the United States overall - with over 90 percent brand recognition in the market across a wide variety of technology products - coupled with some innovative products in the camera space and in DVRs, we think we have a nice product line that’s going to fill an important need in the market," Taylor said.
Although the company will only initially offer these 14 products, Taylor said that more will follow in the coming months. He added that this a business-to-business play for the company and that they are targeting customers in small-to-medium-sized businesses. Some of the company’s products could also wind up in high-end residential applications, according to Taylor. "Anyplace that is looking for high-performance cameras and DVRs to create a secure environment, that’s where we believe LG will be a good fit," he said.
According to Farley, it will take a combination of factors to successfully build brand awareness of LG’s security products in the U.S. market.
"Just because its’ got an LG name on it doesn’t mean they have a right to win in this space," Farley said. "The company does bring with it a very broad awareness in the U.S. market, so that’s a great start. There is an inherent trust that people have developed in LG through their relationship with some of their other products. We have worked with them to price their product competitively and make it attractive to the channel to resell it and that’s a very important part to this. We are a very active partner in helping LG promote the product to develop a broad awareness of LG’s introduction to the security space and that’s going to be important too."
