Target’s Connected Home Store—Target Open House—Updates with New IoT Products and Platforms

December 3, 2015 - Article reads in
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Back in July when we opened the doors to Target Open House—our connected home lab and retail space in San Francisco—we made it our mission to learn as we go, regularly testing new initiatives and iterating the space based on response from visitors and the IoT startup community.

Last month, we made good on that promise, announcing a partnership with Indiegogo to feature early-stage connected home technologies. We’ve also been working on a refresh of the space, which includes the arrival of new products and platforms: Flic, SmartThings, Sense by Hello, Automatic, Roomba 980 by iRobot, Sonos Play:5, Yonomi, Kinsa, Muzzley and IFTTT.

The beauty of Target Open House is more than just showcasing cutting-edge IoT home technology—it’s showing just what can happen when individual technologies work in tandem to make a house hum with efficiency. That’s why the space—a giant Lucite “house”—features panoramic digital screens that animate the process of multiple devices working together. New “scenarios” added this week include “Sick Baby,” “Date Night” and “Morning Wellness.”

At such an exciting time in the Target Open House development, we turned to our new product and platform partners to see what they’re saying about coming to Target Open House.

Quotes from brand representatives from the newest products and platforms arriving at Target Open House this season

“Flic fits in perfectly at Target Open House with its possibility to make devices easier accessible on demand with the click of a button. At Open House products are displayed in the context in which they are used rather than reading the description on the giftbox at a regular store. This enables consumers to really explore the possibilities that Flic brings and experience the benefits that make our lives easier and more productive. With Flic you can easily control your Sonos speakers, turn off all your Hue lights or even switch on your coffee machine with a Wemo switch. It's simple to explain but inspiring to actually see it in action, and now it can be seen at Target Open House.” Amir Sharifat, Co-Founder & COO, Flic

“Target Open House is an amazing showcase of the connected home. You can walk in and see and feel how exciting it is to have a home that responds to the way you live and the way you like things. It's not a pie-in-the-sky 'someday' vision, but something that's available today to make homes more autonomous, efficient and comfortable. Someday is today! Yonomi lets you take the Target Open House experience home. It's a free app that gives you a hub-less way to get all of these devices to work together, and automatically run “routines," like unlocking the door, turning the lights on, warming the house and playing music when you arrive. Now, your home can welcome you." Kent Dickson, Co-founder and CEO, Yonomi

"Target Open House is a really unique and interactive experience for the shopper. It combines the shopping experience with education through great use cases and really gives the consumer the whole story when it comes to the smart home platform. We feel this combination is a lot more powerful and exciting for the shopper than just a beautiful display.  It’s engaging, informative and immersive-just like the Samsung SmartThings products being showcased. A Samsung SmartThings Home Monitoring Kit is the easiest way to transform your home into a smart home.  We love the approach of selling a starter kit and additional sensors so that we can give the Target guest the opportunity to customize their smart home any way they want. It’s not a one size fits all approach, and getting to experience a variety of scenarios within Target Open House, where Samsung SmartThings has multiple partner devices, really brings the whole concept together for a Target guest." Brandt Varner, GM Smart Home, Samsung Electronics USA

"The whole connected device category is really taking off and Target Open House is helping propel it from early adopters into the mainstream. Automatic is joining breakthrough products in the connected home and connected lifestyle, showing how easy it can be to become a better driver and connect all of your digital life to your car."  J.C. Lindquist, Head of Sales, Automatic

“Target Open House showcases how the connected home makes life easier for families, a cause that is near and dear to us at Kinsa. Kinsa's pediatrician-recommended Smart Thermometers don't just offer easy, accurate readings that are trusted by adults and fun for children; they also comfort and reassure families by automatically remembering illness details and providing expert medical guidance if an illness is cause for concern. Target’s discriminating guests will appreciate the peace of mind that comes with being a Kinsa family.”  Inder Singh, Founder and CEO, Kinsa

“IOT for consumer success depends on several layers of different companies where retailers have the essential role of distributing it. As IOT is the new era of how we'll live, consumer needs to be educated on the benefits of having a smart-home, specially in a place where they can buy connected devices. Target with Open House is the retailer that Muzzley considers that is doing a very good job on this matter and we’re very happy that Target recognised Muzzley as an important piece for the consumer create and enjoy his smart-home. Having our IOT platform featured in Open House, besides the recognition of Muzzley as a product, is an extraordinary opportunity to bring more users to know more about Muzzley and have them try it. At this phase of IOT, it’s very important to receive feedback from users to continue building what we want to reach: The leader platform to help the user to create and enjoy his smart-home. The real value of a smart product is better understood if consumers interact with them. Just by looking at them is hard to see any added value compared to a regular product. Since smart products' adoption is still in the beginning, Target Open House is helping their guests perceive the real value of smart products by showcasing how a platform as Muzzley can enhance the smart-home owner's quality of life by making separate products work seamlessly together and even receive suggestions in their Muzzley app to better enjoy their smart-home." Eduardo Pinheiro, Co-Founder & CEO, Muzzley

"We’re thrilled to have Sense featured in Target Open House. Experiencing Sense for yourself is the best way to understand what a powerful tool it is for improving sleep, and we’re delighted to bring that to Target’s customers. It’s also a great chance to truly appreciate Sense’s beautiful design.” Amanda Rosenberg, Marketing Lead, Hello

"From smart thermostats and wireless lights to social networks and connected cars, If This Then That helps you get the most out of the products you love. Today, many of the devices at Target Open House work better together because of If This Then That." Linden Tibbets, CEO, If This Then That

“It felt like a natural fit to feature our new Roomba® 980 Vacuum Cleaning Robot in Target Open House, as this product is iRobot’s first true foray into the connected smart home.  Users can connect Roomba 980 to their Wi-Fi network, so when cleaning schedules don’t match social or work schedules, they can use the new iRobot HOME App to start a cleaning job from anywhere, anytime. Roomba 980 is the first Roomba to combine this cloud connected app control with other exciting and enhanced features. It now has the ability to navigate and clean an entire level of a home, automatically increases air power on carpets, and provides customizable cleaning preferences. We all know the adage “seeing is believing” and Target Open House provides Target guests the opportunity to see Roomba 980 in action. Guests will be able to experience the increased power of the Carpet Boost feature when Roomba 980 traverses onto carpet, watch how Roomba cleans under and around furniture, and check out the sleek, simple user interface. After watching Roomba 980 vacuum, we hope guests are able to envision their very own robot working alongside them in their own home!” Jennifer Lichtenheim, VP of Sales—Americas, iRobot

The new products and platforms arrived at Target Open House this week and all products featured in the space will be available for purchase on Target.com.

We’re looking forward to more, “I didn’t know you could do that!” and “I wouldn’t have expected to see this from Target!” moments from our guests. And rest assured, while you’re ooh-inh and ah-ing, we’ll be learning, iterating, innovating and updating—stay tuned.

Located at 789 Mission Street in San Francisco’s Metreon shopping center, Target Open House is open to the public. Hours are 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. on weekends and 9am-9pm on weekdays, except Thursdays when the space closes at 5 p.m. to host events.

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