Smart homes – consumers choose standalone products rather than systems

Consumers' strong preference for starting with standalone devices has important implications for sales channels that tend to focus on systems, according to analyst firm Interpret.

Interpreter's survey Smart Home Matrix (Volume 3): Consumer Purchase Journey asks questions about the order of smart home devices purchased, the time between purchases, and the channels used for first, second, and subsequent purchases.

The survey, conducted quarterly in the US and in which Interpret questions 9,000 people aged 18-55, shows that a third of consumers are loyal to their first channel and continue to shop there. A third buy from multiple channels, primarily to find the best price, followed by the reason of finding a wider selection of products.

”Despite the explosion of smart home products sold through retail and online channels, home security solution providers continue to post strong results, proving that consumers have a strong appetite for smart home products sold in a variety of forms, price points and packages. The question to answer is whether buyers of standalone smart products will over time have a stronger desire for their products to become systems,” says Stuart Sikes, senior vice president at Interpret.

More than half of smart home device owners in the U.S. purchased their first smart home product less than three years ago, according to Interpret. Only 12 percent of buyers started the process with the intention of purchasing a system, while the vast majority took their first step into a smart home by trying out one or more standalone smart home devices.

This confirms that retail and online channels are becoming as important, or more important, for smart home device manufacturers than traditional channels for home security, system integration, and internet service providers.

Rental of smart home products

Another survey, from Rent.com based on questions to 1,546 people, shows that 82 percent of respondents want at least one smart home product in their home, but 49 percent don't have any.

Of the 51 percent who have smart home products in their home, 21 percent have one product, 12 percent have two products, 7 percent have three products, 5 percent have four products, and 2 percent have five products or more.

The most common smart home product is some form of voice control, with half of renters having at least one. In second place is a smart home product, which 41 percent of renters say they have. In third place, with a 36 percent ownership share, was smart lighting.

Ola Larsson

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