New products showcased in Canada - Canadian Hardware and Building Materials Show - Brief Article - Statistical Data Included

Home Channel News, March 5, 2001 by Jennifer Barber

Toronto Hardware Show provides venue for electrical and lighting suppliers to unveil innovations

The Canadian Hardware and Building Materials Show in Toronto has served as a venue at which Canadian and U.S. suppliers preview products that eventually find their way into the United States. Last month's convention was no exception, as electricals and lighting suppliers showcased innovations in products, packaging and promotions.

Gemini Industries, which is in its fifth year of selling certain lines under the Philips brand, introduced two new products. One is PROmote, a new all-in-one remote control that can be programmed in 2.5 seconds, according to Gemini's vp-marketing, Bill Otre.

Retailing from 29.99 to 59.99 Canadian dollars for a more advanced version (US$19.62 to US$39.24), this remote control lets users log onto the PROmote Web site and key in information about their entertainment equipment, such as the make and model of the television, VCR, CD player or DVD player. The user then points the remote control at a bar code on the computer screen and the information is instantly programmed into the remote.

Otte said PROmote would be available around September. The following month, Gemini's Q3 Surge Protector, which Otte said is awaiting approval from Underwriters Laboratories, should also be available in stores.

As wireless technology emerges as a leading form of communication on construction sites, many electricals suppliers are marketing their products through home improvement dealers. Motorola's Spirit GT Professional Two-Way Radio is a prime example.

Exhibited at the Canadian show by Lenbrook, a marketer of Motorola products since 1996, the Spirit radio transmits signals on a business-only frequency over 250,000 square feet, five miles or up to 20 floors with concrete and steel in between.

Introduced in November 1999, Spirit radio retails from C$279 to C$299 and is being marketed to pro customers in retail stores such as Home Depot Canada, Home Hardware and Rona. "We want to get this product into the hands of contractors who could be using a two-way radio but haven't been," said Dave Poirier, a spokesman for Lenbrook. "Let's sell this through hardware centers where the contractor comes in everyday to buy his tools."

Woods Industries Canada introduced its Winterflex Polarcord last July. Woods now markets the product to Canadian and U.S. dealers by touting its higher profit potential compared with other cable brands, said Michael Griesi, Woods' director of marketing

The Polarcord -- which is carried by the buying groups Home Hardware and Federee Co-op, as well as by Revy Home & Garden -- is designed to remain flexible in subzero temperatures. "Most people who use block heaters [for their cars] have a great deal of difficulty removing the heater plug from the female end," Griesi said. "This eliminates the frustration of the consumer having to remove the plug." The product retails from C$9.99 to C$29.99 and is being marketed to contractors who require much higher amp levels in a cords, Griesi mid.

In an effort to compete with low-priced, lighting coming in from Asia, Osram Sylvania has introduced a line of bulbs under the Pricemark brand, that is identified by its own color-coded packaging. Wayne Westbrook, a marketing manager for the Mississauga, Ontario-based company, said the virtually all of the products in this line are made off shore. He also said that Sylvania does not intend to run any advertising that promotes Pricemark. "We want dealers to replace the imported products they are selling now with this line," he said.