Sears, hhgregg Lead Price Cuts on Sharp 70-inch LED-Based LCD TV

A day following Sharp’s coming-out party for its $3,799 70-inch LC-70LE732U, the 120Hz LED-based LCD TV was already discounted by 22 percent at Sears and hhgregg, Consumer Electronics Daily found in an online search. In our survey, retailers who had the product were not shipping the TV from online sites but were directing consumers to retail stores instead. The Sears.com website didn’t list a price for the TV, but asked shoppers to use its Click to Call service for ordering information. We were directed to the Kings Plaza store in Brooklyn based on ZIP code and were told by phone that the store had two 70-inch models in stock at a retail price of $2,969.

Hhgregg showed a listing for the 70-inch model on its website and also directed customers to stores for price. A salesman at an Indianapolis hhgregg store quoted $2,969 over the phone with $69 delivery fee but said he could waive the fee “for a TV that size.” The Falls Church, Va., hhgregg store had not yet received the 70-inch model, according to customer service. Although Best Buy, Costco, Fry’s, and Sam’s Club were also on the list of retailers Sharp announced Wednesday, none were yet stocking a 70-inch model, according to our search. Fry’s was taking pre-orders at $3,299 with no shipping date given.

Sharp is preparing to expand its presence at Costco and Sam’s Club, adding a derivative 70-inch LCD TV to be sold at both warehouse clubs, said John Homlish, vice president of sales. The 70-inch LCD TV will have a slightly different cosmetic design and be limited to the non-3D capable, 240 Hz model, Homlish said. Costco will carry the set in most of its more than 400 locations, except for 15 to 20 outlets, while Sam’s will have it in 400 of its more than 600 stores, Homlish said. Both retailers also will market a 60-inch 240 Hz set, he said. Pricing hasn’t been set, he said.

Sharp’s Quattron technology will be in about 60 percent of its TVs this year, chief marketing officer Robert Scaglione said. While Sharp supplies LCDs on an OEM basis, Quattron will be exclusive to the Sharp brand this year, he said.

Sharp executives underscored retailers’ excitement about the only 70-inch TV in the market at the company’s release party in Manhattan late Wednesday, claiming that all allotted shipments had been spoken for, including three additional 240Hz models due out this summer. Sharp Electronics Marketing Co. of America president John Herrington told us the first wave of 70-inch models would continue to roll out over the next few weeks but wouldn’t commit to sales projections other than “as many as we can.”

The 70-inch models are Sharp’s only LED-based LCD TVs to use full-array backlighting, according to Tony Favia, senior product manager, who told us getting light uniformity with such a large TV “is tricky with an edge-lit design.” Future 70-inch models will be full-array backlit, but 60-inch and smaller models won’t due to the “cost issue,” Favia said.

A 3D 240Hz version of the 70-inch TV will ship this summer for the specialty channel, Mark Viken, vice president of marketing, told us, but price and date details weren’t available. When we asked Viken the company’s view on passive 3D in wake of an industry-wide softening toward the technology, he reiterated Sharp’s position that active-shutter TVs deliver a better consumer experience due to a full resolution image, but he added, “for now.” If consumers show a preference for passive technology in the future, he said, “We'll be there."

According to Kozo Takahashi, CEO of Sharp Electronics Corp., although total TV sales volume was down 10 percent in 2010, growth in the 60-inch and above segment, where Sharp has dominant market share, was up 400 percent. “U.S. consumers are voting for large TVs,” Takahashi said. In addition to the four 70-inch models Sharp will have in the U.S. this year, it will field five 60-inch models, with all 60-inch-and-above panels produced at the company’s 10G plant in Sakai City, Japan.

Sharp has also launched the 3D-capable VX-Z17000 front projector through 160 of Best Buy’s Magnolia Home Theater store-within-a-store locations, Best Buy officials said. The projector ($4,499), which contains a 0.65-inch DLP with 1,920x1,080p resolution, 1,600 lumens and a 30,000:1 contrast ratio, is being merchandised by itself in the “Studio 2” room of the Magnolia stores, a Best Buy spokesman said. The projector is packaged with two pairs of active-shutter 3D glasses. Projectorpeople.com also was selling the Z17000 Thursday, promoting it at $3,699. Additional specialty CE chains and custom installers are expected to be added as Sharp’s production of the projector builds at its Tochigi, Japan plant.

While Sharp has sold home theater front projectors for years, the Z17000 is part of an effort to “rejuvenate” a category that has struggled as large-screen flat-panel TVs have cut into market share, said Bruce Tripido, associate vice president in the entertainment products division at Sharp. Sharp will introduce additional 3D projectors, but has no immediate plans for a projector capable of displaying a 2.35:1 aspect ratio (CED Sept 24 p1), Scaglione said. “We think 3D represents an opportunity for the front projector business to be revived,” Scaglione told us. “Front projection, much like 3D, is an experiential event-based technology. So you watch front projection when you are watching a movie or a sporting event.”