Stampede, international provider of AV solutions, has released the trends that they believe will affect the commercial and residential AV industry in 2020. Stampede president and chief executive Kevin Kelly believes that this year is both promising and pivotal for consumers, resellers and manufacturers.

“Technology has evolved from being a utility that enhances productivity to an experience that anchors everything we do at work, at home, at school and all the places we travel to in between,” Kevin says.

“The AV experience has become central to our daily lives in all walks of life and those companies that can deliver an experience are going to thrive in the new year just getting underway. Those who can’t will continue to see their products and businesses become increasingly commoditised.  Value, margin and profit increasingly are to be found upstream, away from the mainstream of easily shopped and priced online solutions.”

He also mentions that the key to delivering a high value experience that preserves margin and profit for all resides in designing and installing system solutions that deliver a higher level of engagement than can be found inexpensively online.

“Packaged system solutions delivering ‘good, better, best’ choice options build around the combination of both software and hardware present solid growth opportunities for manufacturers and all types of retailers, resellers and integrators,” he says.

“In particular, audio manufacturers have a remarkable because it is a critically important component of being able to deliver a quality experience.”

One of the trends that will define this year includes feature-rich AV including mobile living which Stampede believes will be growth area this year. Families young and old are staying at home and focusing on AV-centric recreational living including custom and engineered displays, components and appliances.

Stampede also believes that the builder channel will become increasingly important to both manufacturers and retailers as the next generation (read: millennial) of smart home consumers comes to expect built-in smart home entertainment, security, lighting and energy controls amongst other things.

“Smart homes are no longer an option; they’re a requirement to today’s younger home buyers who expect to have an app-like experience when they’re home — and particularly when they’re away from home,” Kevin details.

Hospitality is another key area for 2020 and beyond as hotels continue to leverage the IoT world. Guests can enjoy all their devices as well as control the guest room’s heating, TV, lighting and so on through their smart phone.

Displays are also being upgraded everywhere to further enhance the in-room and public area customer experience: “The need to install larger-sized 4K, OLED and even 8K displays is becoming more urgent throughout the hospitality industry. In fact, if there was more content available, 8K would really take off.”

It may be the operational side of hospitality that has more potential to take off Kevin stresses: “Artificial intelligence and voice-controlled customer service, virtual reality-based room and property previews, augmented reality in local tourist attractions and restaurants, facial recognition for security and panic buttons for employees and guests — all of these areas offer growth opportunities for AV resellers and manufacturers that didn’t exist before.”

One final trend that Kevin predicts is that Direct View LED Displays go mainstream at the expense of LCD displays and projection systems.

“The difference in display quality overwhelms any short-term design and installation issues and the prices are now at a point where they create a true tipping point for the industry,” he says.

That same point is true for other technologies in the AV industry that have been slowly percolating in the last few years.

“It’s time to buckle up and profit from the opportunities these new trends and technologies are creating,” Kelly concludes.

“The future always belongs to the bold that are not afraid to invest in the ideas of the future. Our commitment to investing in the future has never been stronger than it is today. We embrace challenge as the gateway to future opportunity and growth for us and for our partners.”