Conference Hears About Coming 5G, Privacy Concerns and Adapting to Millennials

consumers has been a recent theme for the group, whose roots are in the baby boomer generation. Over the next 20-30 years, that generation will pass down what some estimates say will be more than $30 trillion to Generation X and millennials, “the consumers of tomorrow,” he said. Dealers have to market to millennials differently because they research and shop differently, Workman said. Millennials value the “experience” of shopping, part of the reason ProSource, along with sister buying group BrandSource, is emphasizing showroom upgrades. Key initiatives include a differentiated experience and ensuring the digital marketing message and in-store experience are equal. A 5G revolution also is coming, Workman said, with content driving “a tremendous amount of change.” As content “comes to the home differently tomorrow, there’s updates and changes that are going to have to come with the home,” he said. Murray Huppin, president of Huppin’s and OneCall, envisioned being able to "showroom" to customers on a smartphone how a product or system will fit into their home. Responding to our question on consumer concerns about data privacy in connected homes, Workman said it’s a topic that “probably needs a lot of attention. Everything gets hacked at some point, it seems.” A stopgap measure for dealers is a digital insurance policy to protect against a lawsuit over a network data breach, he said, but next steps are uncertain. Most integrators aren’t paying enough attention to cyberthreats and don’t have the internal systems needed to protect networked homes, said Listen Up President Walt Stinson. As a larger company, Listen Up has the resources to address that part of the business, but “most integrators struggle" with it,” he said. Huppin noted a security-focused presentation at a conference last year, which provided resources for dealers, but no ongoing program has been set up since, something both dealers said should be done.