While most baby monitors are sold inside the baby store channel, electrical retailers have been carving out a piece of this market for themselves, ranging products that complement their existing surveillance solutions.
National marketing communications manager at Uniden Australia Brad Hales said homeowners want their home to be completely connected and they want updates in real-time. This extends to baby monitors.
“Although a large component of the baby video market sits inside baby stores, we have noticed key consumer electronics retailers have started to range these types of products and are achieving very good sell through,” he said.
Uniden has four models in its Baby Watch baby monitor range. At the top of the line is the BW31xx series (RRP from $199), which features Uniden’s unique Baby Watch Skype app, allowing Apple, Android and Windows smartphone and tablet users to view their baby from anywhere in the world.
Closer to home, the monitor display has a 4.3-inch colour screen and a walkie talkie function to communicate with people in other areas of the house.
The system also includes a temperature monitor, audio alerts and ‘smart motion detection’ which turns the video display on if the stirs by detecting noise or movement.
VTech has also branched out into baby monitors. Marketing manager Natalie Harvey says that child safety is a top priority in Australian households.
“Starting from day one, parents are happy to spend to ensure they are protecting their baby with the best and most trusted products in the market. The purchase decision is a calculated one, and parents like to undertake product research whether in-store or online when it comes to something as important as their baby’s safety,” she said.
The hero product in the range is the Safe & Sound Pan & Tilt Video & Audio Baby Monitor (BM3500, RRP $189). The baby unit transmits full colour video and audio to the Parental Unit’s 2.8-inch colour display. From the parental controls the baby camera can pan up to 270 degrees and tilt up to 124 degrees. Additional cameras can be purchased (RRP $99) and the video screen can be split into four segments to follow each camera.
“We understand you may not always have face time with each customer, and with VTech’s unique display sleds, in-store product communication is made easy,” Harvey said.
Another player in the market is the iBaby Monitor M6, distributed by iWorld Australia. The iBaby M6 (RRP $259) allows parents to watch their baby in HD from a mobile device. They can control the camera angle remotely, panning 360 degrees and tilting 110 degrees, or play soothing music to comfort to the baby.
Unlimited cameras can be added to the system and up to four devices can control the system. It also has motion and sound alert notifications and is able to snap and share photos with options to share via Facebook and Twitter.
