Several major retailers have moved to drop the Belkin WeMo product from their stores citing poor sales, and a lack of understanding of Internet of Things (IOT) technology.
In the USA both Best Buy and Fry’s have dropped the Belkin brand with retailers in Australia reporting “slow” demand for the home automation product which was recently ranged in Bunnings.
At CES 2016 Belkin failed to display WeMo products publicly.
Executives from the US based Company said that some products were on display “behind closed doors”.
Three months ago ChannelNews was told that Belkin had slashed investment in the development of WeMo products and that up to 50% of the staff involved in the product had been laid off.
A Belkin spokesperson at the time issued the following statement “Belkin International has recently performed a limited restructuring of its WeMo organization to align with our business priorities and continued success”.
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“WeMo is realigning its resources to ensure revenue generation, profit growth, and market share opportunities; as well as positioning itself for long-term sustainable growth. WeMo will continue to sell and support the more than 20 WeMo enabled products and optimize distribution channels, operations and its overall consumer business model to capture these smart home market opportunities”
Since that statement was issued two of the largest retailers in the USA have dropped Belkin WeMo products while expanding their range of Swann Communications IOT and security products.
Last week at two major Fry Stores in the USA we saw several home automation and IOT products ranged including Aisle ends for Swann Communication products.
Belkin has also been hard hit by the failure of Dick Smith stores in Australia with racks of Belkin products still being ranged in Dick Smith stores.
