While his ambitions would have him and his team further down the road, Year One was an incredibly busy and successful one for Andy Orozco and Nationwide Marketing Group’s custom integration division. Coming off of CEDIA 2023 in Denver, we sat down with Andy to talk about the show, his first year at the helm, and more.

Coming off of his first full PrimeTime season, we sit down with Nationwide Marketing Group’s Director of Education and Training Shawn Ashby. We dive into his passion for educating audiences, his plans for the Nationwide Learning Academy, early preparations for the program in Las Vegas and much more.

During PrimeTime in Nashville, NMG’s consumer electronics retailers had the opportunity to hear from Gap Intelligence, a data analytics firm that tracks pricing and promotional trends across myriad product categories – mainly focused on CE right now. Scott Peterson, a senior analyst at Gap, spent time after the session diving deeper into their work and how they get it done.

TCL has regularly pushed the envelope in the screen business – it’s how the brand became one of the fastest growing in North America over the past decade. But, as Product Evangelist Bruce Walker tells us, it’s more than just the technology that’s catching people’s attention these days.

Human Resources can be a very tricky area for independent business owners to navigate, especially when trying to formalize the department. Nationwide Marketing Group’s Chief People Officer Kelley Kenner-Patridge, who helped establish the group’s own HR initiative, and her team are helping retailers take the proper steps to be successful in the realm of talent and employee relations.

The brother-sister team of Greg Law and Kathryn Gaus, owner and HR business manager at Sweet Dreams Mattress & Furniture respectively, have truly bought in to the importance of serving their employees like they serve their customers. Their commitment to HR has resulted in a strong company culture and, in turn, the creation of what’s truly a Dream Team.

Phantom Sound, a custom integration firm based out of Mason, Ohio, has a steep 35-year history that includes thousands of completed projects and four held patents. The company’s owner, Tommy Brand, acquired the firm in 2022 and is, for all intents and purposes, a rookie in the CI space. He shares his story, what attracted him to Phantom Sound, and his plan to help the company continue to grow.

Last Fall, Nationwide Marketing Group rolled out a new partnership with FEI Group, an organization that represents hundreds of independent dealers in the flooring, cabinets, kitchen and bath and exterior contracting spaces. Brian Penabad, senior vice president of FEI, talks dives into how members of both groups to take advantages of the partnership.

The video game industry carries a certain connotation that often leads to independent retailers turning a blind eye to the category. But, as Chad Bowser of D&H points out, the video game segment has matured well beyond the average age of its consumer. And it’s a category that represents a major opportunity to the dealers who go about it the right way.

The National Kitchen & Bath Association recently released the results of its first-ever study on the current (and future) state of the independent showroom segment. To help make sense of the troves of data the report uncovered, we invited Tricia Zach, head of research at NKBA, onto the podcast.