Want to fill your home with the latest smart gadgets but can’t quite figure out how it all works? One London retailer may have the answer.
Department store John Lewis has opened a 1,000-square foot space in its flagship Oxford Street location dedicated to products for connected homes, laid out like an IKEA showroom.
Every gadget, appliance and coffee maker on display can be operated from your phone, giving you control over the lights, sounds and even smells in your place.
(If you’re not tech savvy, you may simply scoff at the high prices for equipment that can seem a tad over the top.)
The most eye-catching device is the new Samsung Family Hub fridge, which is set to go on sale in June for £4,499 ($6,650).
It has a 21.5-inch HD screen, which can be used to browse the Web, write notes, play music, watch TV and even shop. The appliance comes with cameras that allow you to view the food inside the fridge from your phone. Very useful when you’re running out of milk.
Samsung ran into a wall of skepticism when it unveiled the fridge in January, but visitors to the John Lewis store were clearly intrigued by the appliance.
John Lewis said it decided to create the interactive connected area after sales of smart home products surged by 81% in 2015.
Since the new area was launched in early April, sales of connected home devices in the store have risen by 4% compared to earlier in the year.
The store features a Nespresso Prodigio machine that brews your coffee in the morning via a tap on your Nespresso app. Of course, the machine isn’t 100% automated. You still have to put the coffee pod in the machine the night before and get your mug in place. The coffee maker costs just under £200 ($290).
And the AEG ProCombi Plus Smart oven, which is set to go on sale in July for £1,499 ($2,185), boasts the world’s first in-oven video camera to allow avid chefs to monitor the progress of their cooking from their phones. You can also adjust the oven temperature from your phone.
Smaller featured gadgets in the store include Nest thermostats, alarms and home cameras, along with special Philips lights that can turn themselves on and off and change colors depending on the time of day.
John Lewis salesman Hack Hassanali told CNNMoney that sales of the lights have surged since the connected home area was set up.
John Lewis is planning to open another area for connected home devices at a second store in the U.K. later this year.
