He Back 3D TVs That Failed, He Slammed Online Retailing Now Gerry Harvey Has The Hots For AI

He punted on 3D TVs, and that technology failed, he said that online retailing was “never going to take off” and it did, now Harvey Norman boss Gerry Harvey is punting on AI to turn around his latest poor results.

This is the Chairman of a retailer who appears to have not invested in online trading to the extent of his competitors, resulting in it most probably, being the reason that his latest results are not looking too flash, after the Harvey Norman web site crashed for hours on the busiest trading day of the year, Black Friday, back in November.

Now the ageing executive has suddenly found enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, with the business appearing to be punting on AI in notebooks, TVs, and other devices to deliver a turnaround for the struggling business that saw net profits plunge 30% and sales 6.7%.

The only problem is that JB Hi Fi and The Good Guys dominate in markets such as mobile phones, notebooks, and TVs where AI is tipped to start making a difference.

Gerry Harvey said after his latest results went public, “I felt a bit depressed.”

He then claimed that both JB Hi-Fi and Harvey Norman,” would be the Companies to benefit from the emergence in AI.

“If the new technology that comes out from June, July onwards this year is as good as they say it might be, then that would make quite a big difference. We’ll just have to wait and see what that technology is.”.

When asked for an explanation by the Sydney Morning Herald as to of how AI would transform products and why would consumers want to buy a new AI product, he claimed that this question was better directed to “leading chipmakers and manufacturers.”

Remember this is the guy who tipped millions into 3D TV, he heavily promoted the technology and loke he is now doing with AI he punted on it to drive sales.

The only problem is that 3D TVs absolutely bombed with Harvey Norman struggling at the time to shift the stock they had invested in.

As for his latest technology crusade he said, “I’ve been told certain things, but I’m not going to talk to anyone about it,” he said. “If it’s as big as some pundits think, it will be huge, beyond our current imagination.”

“It’s the biggest topic in the world … This is not big news, it’s huge news. This is world changing.”

recently Built In conducted a survey of 2,000 consumers regarding their attitude to AI.

85 percent of shoppers were not interested in using AI to help make purchasing decisions, and 60 percent said they would be unaffected by AI recommendations.

The researchers concluded that ‘On the face of it, consumers see little value in AI’.

The reasons given for their lack of interest in buying an AI product was:

Data privacy concerns: AI represents a more significant data privacy intrusion than social media collected data for marketing.

Bad recommendations: A lack of data means most AI recommendations aren’t very accurate, leading users to doubt AI-generated suggestions.

The US Federal Trade Commission recently claimed following a recent research study that ‘Consumers are voicing concerns about harms related to AI—and their concerns span the technology’s lifecycle, from how it’s built to how its applied in the real world.

Harvey Norman has not said what research they have if any that indicates that AI is going to drive a resurgence in consumer electronics sales.

Gerry Harvey concluded “The next year will probably be one of the more interesting years in all our lifetimes.”

February and March will be fairly difficult then in April, May, June – it should be quite good,” he told The Australian Financial Review.Harvey Norman executive chairman Gerry Harvey and his wife and CEO Katie Page. Janie Barrett

“I’ve got to be happier about the outlook, than say six months ago. So many more people are in the country, and they have all got to have a bed and a fridge. So if interest rates drop a bit, inflation drops, consumer confidence picks up and big tax cuts are coming … you also have the new technology that’s going to come out next year.”