Indiegogo makes it easier for entrepreneurs to sell smart home products in brick-and-mortar outlets as it announces partnerships with US retailers Target and Brookstone.
The Target partnership involves the showcase of 3 successfully crowdfunded devices-- namely the Oomi smart home control platform, the Nanoleaf voice-controlled lighting kit and the Butterfly wireless home security camera-- at its experimental Open House store in San Francisco.
Meanwhile Brookstone offers "special access to resources and expertise" to products relevant to the technology, wellness, home and travel focus areas. It will also sell 9 crowdfunded devices, such as the Axent Wear cat ear headphones, AIRTAME wireless display device and the Beddit sleep monitor, in a "Funded with Indiegogo" section.
Indiegogo outlines a couple of requirements for crowdfunding projects wanting to make it to either Target or Brookstone shelves-- products need a price point lower than $500 and a crowdfunding campaign reaching over $1 million in preorders.
“It’s really exciting to see these products in the stores," Indiegogo says. "But what’s more exciting is to see how this platform is starting to bring about real change in this industry in a way that’s allowing entrepreneur’s products to get into the hands of consumers much more quickly than they ever were able to do in the past.”
As mentioned, so far the initiative only involves a pair of US retailers. But, should it prove successful, it should easily cross the Atlantic to large European retailers.
