LG focuses on offering upgradable home appliances: appliance chief

The Korea Times

The Korea Times

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Sun, October 1, 2023 | 18:53

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LG focuses on offering upgradable home appliances: appliance chief

Posted : 2023-01-15 10:10

Updated : 2023-01-16 10:27

Lyu Jae-cheol, president and head of LG Electronics' Home Appliance & Air Solution (H&A) division, speaks during a press conference at the company's plant in Clarksville, Tenn., Jan. 9. Courtesy of LG Electronics

By Baek Byung-yeul

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. ― LG Electronics will focus on expanding its ThinQ Up upgrade system for home appliances to global markets in order to offer customers a better user experience, its home appliance head said, Jan. 9.

"In early 2022, LG released home appliance with the Up feature, which enables users to upgrade their gadgets. In the global market, we call the service ThinQ Up. The feature has helped us communicate with customers with us receiving more than 6,000 ideas from them," Lyu Jae-cheol, president and head of LG's Home Appliance & Air Solution (H&A) division, said during a press conference at the company's U.S. plant in Clarksville, Tennessee.

LG's home appliances that support the Up feature provide a better user experience because customers are not only able to control their devices through the ThinQ smart home platform but also upgrade features of the gadgets based on their own distinct lifestyles.

"With various upgrades and services, we aim to bring an evolution to customer experience," Lyu said.

So far, LG has released 24 kinds of ThinQ Up-capable home appliances ― such as washers, dryers, refrigerators and dish washers ― and has provided over 120 upgrades.

Thanks to the Up home appliances, the number of users who registered their products to the ThinQ smart home app doubled in January compared to the same period in 2022. Also, the number of users who upgrade features is on rise.

Providing a better software experience is essential, as the more people are using the ThinQ internet of things (IoT) app, the more customers the company will count as its users.

"We joined the HCA, an organization for standardizing IoT service, last year and soon another IoT standard will be available for each IoT feature-supported home appliance regardless of the brand," he said.

Giving users more options lets them control their Samsung Electronics devices via LG ThinQ app or vice versa. At a time when IoT is becoming more popular, Lyu said the winner in the home appliance market will be decided based on which maker offers a better connected experience.

"This is why we have launched the Up service and provided a more connected experience with ThinQ. Developing technologies such as informing customers in advance before the refrigerator breaks down and the food inside goes bad or guiding users who put a lot of laundry detergent in the washing machine to reduce detergent is a way to give new value to customers," he said.

Lyu added he was inspired from a novel services and new products introduced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) tech event, which was held in Las Vegas.

"At the CES, I took a look at various IoT devices related to smart home services and got a lot of ideas from them. Also, I could see many sleeping gadgets. I learned that anything happening in the home can be part of our business area," the president said.

baekby@koreatimes.co.kr