Why Smart Home Players Need to Deliver in the Holiday Season
Parks Associates
Internationally recognized consumer IoT market research firm studying connected home and entertainment trends
Adoption of the smart home has reached mass market, but the momentum is slowing and settling into seasonal variations. To some extent, this is expected: the smart home experienced extremely rapid spikes in growth and purchasing during the pandemic and is now settling into a more normalized pattern. However, other pressures are slowing the momentum, from a sluggish housing market to high interest rates, and inflation — which, while dropping, has still not reached pre-pandemic levels.*
Smart home manufacturers can beat the current trends by offering products that can appeal to the mass market: differentiated pricing tiers and offerings that integrate well with platforms and other smart home devices to offer practical lifestyle routines are compelling options. Several players made strides in these areas in the first half of 2024:
Volume in product sales will come more and more from mainstream buyers, and people expect technology to be integrated into their daily experiences, enhancing convenience, efficiency, and personalization. Smart home players need to stay laser-focused on the value they provide, and how working well with others can enhance that value for the end user.
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Retailers are a strong purchase channel in the holiday season, both brick and mortar and online, and tend to match or exceed other channels in Q4. However, during Q2, retail is less used, particularly as security installers, HVAC installers, and ISP providers increase their volume as households move in the summer months and take new services. For Q2 2024, all non-retail purchase channels were responsible for higher sales than retailers. This strength in alterative channels may be driving sales prices higher in Q2, whereas retailers offer higher discounts during the holiday season.
Expect sales to pick up and prices to drop again in Q4. Players who are more reliant on pro channels will benefit from heavier promotions of DIY/e-commerce-friendly models and products at year-end.
This is an excerpt from Parks Associates research service, Smart Home Dashboard. The Smart Home Dashboard visualizes the most important metrics for smart home device adoption and use, informing the strategic decision making of companies across the connected home market.
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The major challenge facing smart home systems is the disconnect between pain and benefit. the pain (both in cost and installation hassles) exceeds the value created for consumers. AI promises more useful applications but - if vendors are going to charge more for AI-infused services - it will be difficult to see much change in this equation.