Exchanges Power Up for Annual Electronics Expo
From Aug. 23 to 27, Exchange associates will join with colleagues from other military exchanges to learn about the best in this year’s home electronics at the Military Exchange Electronics Expo, known as ME3.
This marks the third time that the Exchange will collaborate with the Navy Exchange Service Command, the Marine Corps Exchange and the Coast Guard Exchange on the expo. The conference provides associates with in-depth knowledge and training for a technical and fast-changing product segment. More than 1,100 associates from across the exchanges are expected to attend virtually this year.
Two years ago, the expo grew from an annual seminar for Power Zone associates to a format where the exchanges work with and learn from one another. The first expo under this alliance, at NEXCOM headquarters in Virginia Beach, Va., was an immediate hit.
“I think it really showed the service industry that the military community is unified–we’re not competitors but one community trying to serve the customers,” said Exchange Divisional Merchandise Manager Randy McKinley. “The associates enjoyed it because it gave them a change of scenery and they got to meet their colleagues from sister services.”
McKinley added that he collective power of the buying alliance allows the exchanges to work with vendors work with vendors to continuously improve value offerings for all exchanges and their customers.
Electronics are among the Exchange’s best-sellers, in-store and online, but last year was a record-breaker for all exchanges, McKinley said. The Exchange alone had nearly $1 billion in electronics sales in 2020.
“The pandemic forced people to nest at home, so money that they didn’t spend on vacations or new cars, they spent on devices they could use at home,” he said. “So electronics sales across the board were really just off the charts.”
Among this year’s big sales drivers are “smart home” equipment,” McKinley said, including virtual assistants, video doorbells and personal-fitness devices that sync with their computers or TVs. McKinley said that new smart home products from Google Nest are among the expected hot products for this year’s expo.
Computer equipment has also been popular during the pandemic, as more people work or attend school remotely. Apple has a new configure-to-order computer assortment that is also expected to be a big topic at the expo.
Gaming and e-sports have also been important, especially in serving those who serve.
“It’s an uber-relevant thing that we’re leaning into,” McKinley said, “not just from a store perspective, but in collaboration with Morale, Welfare and Recreation and other entities that serve the community. We’ve found that it’s really significant from a recruitment and retention perspective.”
The Exchange is hosting this year’s conference via Pheedloop, a platform that allows the vendors to feature video presentations of their products. Nearly 60 vendors – including Apple, Samsung, Sony, GoPro, Nintendo, Xbox, Microsoft and more — are participating this year, about twice as many as last year.
Pheedloop also allows vendors to offer a more dynamic viewing experience, including showing videos of their products. Although there will be scheduled sessions for registered associates to watch the presentations, most presentations will be prerecorded, providing more flexibility for associates.
“Rather than having to have a certain number of people online at a certain time, which can be a little problematic, given that we have associates all over the world,” McKinley said, “we can release content throughout the week and associates are able to view at their convenience.”
After the event, associates will also be able to view presentations via LEX, accessible via the Exchange home page. (This story will be updated with a link to the expo’s website when it goes live on Aug. 23.)
