Integrated systems bring together technologies, design and treatments to make the sales process more complex. In this feature, Layla Laidouci delves into the routes professionals are taking to showcase the full impact of integration.
Unlike off-the-shelf devices, integrated systems require an artistic combination of design and technology to transform living spaces. From exclusive demos and trade show experiences to real-world case studies, integration can astonish and delight users as their lifestyle goals translate into compelling sales.
We’ll be exploring the challenges of selling a vision rather than single device, tracing the journey from system discovery all the way to future referrals with installers and distributors. Beginning with design-forward facilities, we’ll turn to single wow products and trade show demos before assessing the value of starting a sale with clear communication strategies.
Teaching tech
Showrooms use meeting areas and modern provisions to deliver an entry-level luxury experience. “I link the real birth of Habi with the showroom,” says Hassan Ahouiek, founder of London-based lifestyle technology and home automation firm, Habi. “The space allows me to teach clients and, one day, maybe even others in the trade that technology and life can feel simpler. It’s a message that people tend to remember.
“Selling a smart home system is less like retail and more like co-design. It starts with getting to know the clients and building their understanding of home automation – for example, mapping a morning routine, security worry or favourite playlist to create a mental or live prototype. The client can go on to experience products and systems in the showroom that test this vision.
Hassan Ahouiek, founder, Habi
“There's a unique set of aspirations from one user to the next, and that's where I think a personal one-to-one service is called for. The Habi showroom is like borrowing a fully furnished luxury apartment for an afternoon. We offer a technology concierge service; I'll greet visitors by appointment, ask questions and listen to how they live. Are they an early bird? Are they a night owl? Is the household young, old or a mix? Are they film buffs? Dinner party hosts?
“Then I will hand them control over the environment. The kit in the showroom is brand agnostic; the focus is always about how it feels. When clients see lighting, shading, sound and climate react to a single tap or scene selection, they understand the value of integration in seconds.”
“Selling a smart home system is less like retail and more like co-design.”
Smart home integrator Woelf, based in Belgium, also highlights the importance of experiential over transactional sales. “If you're focused on selling products, you're not the integrator,” says Jan Martens, owner and integration specialist at Woelf. “You’re more like an online store. And then comes the need for competitive pricing. For us, we think about making a sale the other way around – we learn how the client wants to enjoy their music or movies, for example, and then find them an appropriate speaker.”
Power to the client
With space and storage options to enable education, showrooms are giving clients the opportunity to assert a prominent role in their integration projects. The Habi facility in London offers a real-world walkthrough among integrated technologies to educate end-users, interior designers, architects and property developers alike. In the same way, showrooms like that of ARLED Cinema in Germany are seeing both B2B and B2C clients mediate their ideas through multiple-choice demos.
Credit: Habi
“Flexibility is a core part of our showroom concept,” says Alexander Riemann, CEO of ARLED Cinema. “We showcase everything: LED screens, projectors, screens, fabrics, lighting, furniture, carpets, control systems and custom solutions. We’re especially enthusiastic about special requests and wild ideas.”
The German home theatre dealer attributes growing business to its immersive showrooms, which offer a range of scenarios and optional products alongside permanent installations. With its MovieCore reference theatre and more recent Oasis Lounge, ARLED blends special effects with curated content to demonstrate the full capabilities of an integrated system.
“If a customer wants to see a specific projector, we make it happen,” adds Riemann. “If they want to experience an LED screen with the same seating distance they have at home, we make that happen too.
“We don’t just hand over drawings or spec sheets, we provide full design studies and project documentation with detailed explanations.”
Alexander Riemann, CEO of ARLED Cinema
Dramatic or domestic?
Whereas ARLED’s MovieCore features ‘the most powerful and precise cinema subwoofer in the world’, CUK’s new showroom in Ascot weaves automation into its resimercial interior design. The reception, kitchen and meeting rooms contain motorised TV lifts, streaming amplifiers and more, as well as the two flagship cinemas.
“To me there is value in showing an integrator something simple to replicate, with or without their client,” says Stuart Thomson, managing director of distributor CUK. “We haven’t gone for perfection because, realistically, there is always some compromise. We’re interested in designing systems that adapt to the needs of the end user; demos should be about feeling, immersion and forgetting where you are.”
Credit: CUK
Keeping with the theme, the two cinema rooms demonstrate systems using different design elements, price points and performance levels. The media room, for hi-fi or Dolby Atmos experiences with additional party mode, is a more relaxed living space incorporating pale sofas, ceilings and carpets.
“There is value in showing an integrator something simple to replicate.”
Similarly, Habi’s three-zone showroom includes a reception at the front, meeting area in the middle and media room at the back to resemble a gallery apartment. “Minimalism is powerful,” says Ahouiek. “Symmetry and discretion lend themselves to the idea that life is clearer when every component pulls in the same direction.”
Returning to CUK, its second cinema room features more typical private cinema design elements such as banked seating and integrated lighting to complement two JBL Synthesis systems. It was important to showcase a variety of memorable experiences for visitors – “a hard balance,” says Thomson. “Some might take the demo as an opportunity to demonstrate high volume and bass capabilities, but few would ever watch a full movie like that. Key to success is having the ability to offer a choice.”
The wow factor
Riemann from ARLED believes that visceral experience has a significant place in the sale of integrated systems. The MovieCore combines the Ascendo 80-inch Infrasonic subwoofer with a six-metre LED screen, panoramic LED surfaces and Barco Residential Nerthus to push technical limits.
“Single wow products are so important because you're selling emotions,” says Riemann. “You can’t communicate a vision without a live experience. You don’t get emotional reading the lyrics to a Lady Gaga song – but you might cry when you hear and see her perform, feeling like you're there in a new explosive reality.”
The MovieCore’s novelty and adventure set the scene for Oasis, another ambitious project launched in November 2024. “This project aims to show scalability and aesthetics in a smaller home cinema system,” explains Riemann. “Its design was meant to be softer, more organic, more inviting – the opposite of the high-tech feel of MovieCore.”
Set on a platform construction, the Oasis cinema is mounted on oscillating bearings with a ceiling height of 2.95m to deliver immersion consistent with CEDIA RP22, Level 3. The Barco Heimdall+ works in tandem with the Trinnov Altitude preamplifier, supported with and without Infrasubs.
ARLED modelled the Oasis room on a desert environment and used materials such as a dune carpet and surfaces powdered with real gold. While handwoven furniture offers comfort, graphics appear on acoustically transparent fabrics and provide seamless storytelling.
Credit: ARLED Cinema
“Luxury home cinema is not just about a large screen and great sound,” explains Riemann. “It’s about the perfect integration of audio, video, lighting, acoustics, furniture, climate control, smart home automation and aesthetic details: the lights dim smoothly, curtains open automatically and the film begins with rich, powerful sound. This staging turns the sales process into an event.
Elemental and sensory, the Oasis showroom includes a lounge on the exterior where visitors can relax. “When you enter the Oasis lounge or theatre, your heartbeat slows,” adds Reimann. “The stress melts away and the space invites you to stay – even without picture or sound.”
Credit: ARLED Cinema
Trade shows
We’ve seen how showroom systems are often the result of intensive client engagement, but can a trade show demo also have value for long-term sales?
“Trade shows facilitate product discovery and the impact of new technology,” reflects Riemann. “They are valuable for spotting trends and getting to know manufacturers. However, many products can’t perform at their best due to stressful environments, suboptimal spaces or budget-driven collaborations.
“If you want to experience the full performance of high-end products, a showroom is essential. If you're looking for a partner to deliver a complete cinema project, you need to get to know their work – and that happens best in a showroom.
“To highlight the true potential of high-performance products, top-tier showrooms will become an absolute must for every integrator in the future.”
Ahouiek similarly emphasises both the importance of “wonder, magic and technique” in selling systems and the showroom’s direct line to clients. “The vast majority of trade shows are not marketed to end users,” he says. “We're an extension of those trade shows, bringing them to the end user and to the people.
“Trade shows are all about being made aware of brands. We're technical and understand how manufacturers want their product to change the world, but the wow must always translate into usefulness.
“Showrooms are great at lighting the spark - big screens, moving walls, thumping audio – but the gloss can wear off if these technologies are not scalable. For example, the sliding wall needs to become a super quiet pocket door that blocks noise when the baby is asleep; the colour changing LEDs need to become circadian lighting to help the teen study, the father relax.”
"Top-tier showrooms will become a must for every integrator in the future.”
Communication
Furthermore, custom installers are reminded of the weight carried by introductions to the world of integrated systems. For Woelf, clarity is crucial – and bowing to price demands can create unnecessary challenges.
“We’ve learned the importance of seeking the right customer and saying no to those simply interested in price comparisons,” says Martens. “While it can be hard for an integrator to leave potential money, I think trust outweighs price in the high-end market. Finding a stable partner who will secure good solutions is the priority.”
Jan Martens, owner and integration specialist at Woelf, credit: Eveline Santermans - For the Dream
Woelf lays bare the smart home integration process to clients, starting with a showroom appointment that leads to an internal design and quotation for a fee. The early extension of service materials and digital plans can prime clients to commit.
“Once the client signs for a charge, 95% of the time we will go on to complete the install,” says Martens. “Design is €5,000-10,000 for a full home but refunded once the installation is complete. If a client decides not to work with us, they can keep the detailed quote.
“We rarely have people take our plans and go to another vendor for a cheaper price. When we host a showroom visit, we pursue designing rather than quoting as the next step. This is because pre-specification by an external architect would disrupt our workflow, designed to be seamless.”
Following a similar logic, Ahouiek suggests that language and experience must be simple to reflect the product or system being offered. “When I was an IT consultant early in my career, I realised how important it is to speak in plain English,” says Ahouiek. “You want to make users understand the benefit in clear terms, much like the end system will be reliable and easily deciphered.”
The sale is often described as a two-way relationship, but Woelf takes it a step further with firm discount principles. “To preserve company value, I think integrators shouldn’t make a habit of discounting products,” he says. “They should only do so if there is the promise of something in return, such as faster payment or the opportunity to visit the home to take photos.
“Integrators should only provide discount if there is something in return.”
“Regarding existing projects, I always try to convert my clients to brand ambassadors. I can try to convince them that I’m the best person to work with, but I'm also the guy selling it to them. If a previous client makes that claim, supported by an impressive home and premium pricing, it’s the greatest seal of credibility an integrator could ask for.”
Main image: ARLED Cinema