What They Say
Hisense in the US has offered consumers a “100 day guarantee” with a money-back refund available. It applies to the firm’s laser TV sets at 75″ (U800GR 8K $2699) to 12″ L9G.
There are some caveats – the set’s purchase has to be registered and it has to be returned without damage although Hisense will supply a new box for the return.
Returned sets will be ‘recycled or refurbished’.
What We Think
I am a big believer in the importance of looking at risk as a factor in purchases. The TV market is very established, so most of it is in the classic ‘late majority’ and ‘laggard’ segments. Those buyers are very averse to risk, so are likely to be nervous about buying anything outside the mainstream in terms of brand or technology. I always believed that a significant part of the success of the Vizio brand in the US market were the very generous return policies of its first customer, CostCo, when it launched in the US. It meant that consumers were eased over the hurdle of discomfort about the risk of buying an unknown brand.
The only negative is that those segments of the market are notoriously price-sensitive as well. Display makers know that the larger sets are very good value compared to other 100″ or 120″ sets, but there are plenty of 75″ LCD TVs at less than $2,699 in the US. (BR)
