John Lewis to launch own TV range

They have been sort of doing this already.

Changing sonys model numbers so that they no longer have to price match anywhere else.

TV's look overpriced to be a "own brand" range regardless of quality.

Also built in sound bars just don't work in reality, people who want a sound bar will buy one, others would rather opt for a surround sound setup. People who don't care about sound will just use the built in sound.
 
I can see the appeal for certain customers. It uses the leverage of the John Lewis brand to simplify the consumer's choice. John Lewis has own branded goods in over 350 other product categories.

These TVs won't appeal to the typical enthusiast buyer. But that's not the market here. It's something different; they're trading on trust and building brand loyalty.
 
Have to say I'm struggling with this one.
I can't help but BELIEVE that most home branded goods in JL, Tesco or whoever, typically tend to be sold on a lower price.
Do that, and you're working in a low margin arena, which is a risky strategy for a low volume group, who really don't have many other ways to offload last years unbought stock.
If I were them, I wouldn't touch that market with a bargepole.
 
Those prices look pretty damn steep.
Also it says it has a built in soundbar, taking that and the look of the stand I'm guessing the soundbar is in teh actual stand...

So if you were to wall mount, is there any actual speakers in the TV section?
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
Those prices look pretty damn steep.
Also it says it has a built in soundbar, taking that and the look of the stand I'm guessing the soundbar is in teh actual stand...

So if you were to wall mount, is there any actual speakers in the TV section?
Click to expand...

Those pics might just be mock ups or concept designs tbh. Won't know for sure until they are nearer launch probably.


I just don't see this range lasting long after they make huge losses on it tbh. The only way it would work is if they offered similar quality to other brands but for less money.

Adding a soundbar is just a stupid thing to do as people could get them separately anyway. They are forcing the price up by including them for no reason. Unless their selling point is that they include amazing sound as standard with no need to upgrade. IMO you would have to be a moron to buy them based on that, because a separate soundbar you can keep forever and for your next TV, a built in one goes and dies with the TV.

I had a built in soundbar in my old panny plasma, it was good for built in sound, compared to my separate yamaha soundbar though it sucked balls
 
edGfaCTor said:
I think they put this in place once they had heard about currys/pcworld getting there own line up from pioneer.
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It's not really Pioneer though, It's TCL (probably) using the Pioneer name. Just like Toshiba, Hitachi etc. etc. are used.
These JL sets are at least genuine LG sets rebadged, though they seem higher priced than the equivalent LG product (soundbar I guess).
 
Psycho Sonny said:
They have been sort of doing this already.

Changing sonys model numbers so that they no longer have to price match anywhere else.
Click to expand...

Stovepipes said:
Is that what they do? That is so devious.
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It's not quite as it has been painted here. As a retailer you can't just go changing manufacturer's model numbers to suit yourself.

What happens is the product managers of the various manufacturers do a deal with the factories to produce a model variant. It's then sold as an exclusive within a channel. For example, the supermarkets might get a Panasonic or a Sony with good headline specs (1080p, 3D etc) at an aggressive price. But if you scratch a little deeper you find it has some corners cut such as no ARC or only basic scaling.

It would be equally possible to produce an upspec'd model if the volumes warranted it.
 
It will sell just like this:

Customer - I want a 60" TV
JL Salesman - Heres a few, Samsung, LG, John Lewis, watch and listen
Customer - The picture quality looks similar, but the JL TV sounds way better. Sold.

The spec, features and PQ we all look for, 90% of buyers don't care about. They're going to plug in their Sky box and watch Eastenders on NON-HD BBC1.
 
I really don understand the, what appears to be, huge premium for the JL TV...
The panel appears nothing out of the ordinary, it has limited inputs/outputs, doesnt appear to be wall mountable oh and a similar LG 60" Plasma is £950 hell you can get a 60" Panny LED for ~£1k
 
None of you guys are target customers for this, so what's the problem?

It's for folk who think Bose is good audio equipment, or that spend £4000 on a dining table and 6 chairs or £2,500 on a chandelier. It's lifestyle, first and foremost.
 
If someone walks into John Lewis, sees a picture quality more than good enough for them to be happy with, except the sound from the built in speakers is worlds above what comes with other TVs, then who cares if they buy it? Maybe they don't want to also go away and buy a sound bar.

Some people don't mind paying for convenience. If you're happy to do hours of research and use multiple components connected together and then set up a Harmony remote to control it all then go hog wild, but don't be confused that there's a market for this sort of product. The people that buy these TVs that you consider overpriced would probably be equally confused at the budgets some of you allocate to an AV rack or a computer case.
 
They'll sell on the sound, especially with the JL salesman killer blow of "watch the TV while I crank up the volume so that no-one else on this floor can have a conversation". Most, if not all, modern TV's sound crap. This might not sound amazing, but it will blow them out the water, so will sell.
 
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