News is emerging that the US market is set for a significant shift as major retailer Best Buy’s installation arm, Magnolia, will now be carrying Savant.

Magnolia is the American equivalent of Harvey Norman Commercial.

From 1 October 2019 Magnolia will be offering Savant solutions to its thousands of customers nationwide.

Thoughtful Integrations director Joe Whitaker, a Control4 dealer who broke the news to Connected in the lead-up to the CEDIA Expo, says the impact of this change should not be underestimated.

“This is one of the biggest opportunities for Control4 dealers for client acquisition,” he says.

“This is something that every US integrator needs to act on immediately; however, I hope this doesn’t become a ‘land grab’.”

Ideally, he says, this is an opportunity for the best and brightest Control4 dealers to enhance the consumer experience.

“It’s important to note that Magnolia isn’t abandoning any of its customers; it will continue to service it’s customers and has committed to ongoing training,” Control4’s senior director of product marketing, Brad Hintze says.

Joe adds: “It’s also important to note that Control4 recently released its OS 3 platform, which was really targeted at enhancing the user experience. Thanks to this announcement, Control4 dealers can now assist Magnolia’s customers to enjoy the enhancements made in the operating system.”

Joe’s neighbourhood of St Louis, Missouri, for example, has four Best Buys and is considered a ‘small’ area for the retailer.

Magnolia has over 1,000 locations in the country.

Best Buy purchased Magnolia Hi-Fi in 2000 for a total cost of $US685 million.

Best Buy’s annual revenue in 2018 was $US39 billion.

“This is also great news for Savant as it immediately puts the control platform into 1,200 additional locations around the US, with backing from one of the best marketers in the game,” Joe says.