Research firm releases new consumer research on connected consumer electronics market 

Parks Associates today released new consumer research showing more than 25% of U.S. broadband households made their most recent CE purchase through an online retailer, boosted in large part by smart speaker sales. 360 View: Connected CE and Trends shows national or local brick & mortar retailers account for nearly 50% of recent CE purchases, while service providers such as AT&T and Comcast account for 13% and purchases direct from a manufacturer represent 11% of recent sales.

“Overall e-commerce accounts for 9-10% of all U.S. retail sales, so CE products sales are well above that average,” said Kristen Hanich, Research Analyst, Parks Associates. “The popularity of smart speakers in particular are driving online sales, with more than 60% of recent sales going through an online retailer such as Amazon. Since intention to purchase for smart speakers is also growing year-over-year, online retailers stand to take an even larger part of CE purchases going forward.”

With a mature smartphone market, growth in the connected CE space is increasingly being driven by connected video and audio devices such as smart TVs, streaming media players, and smart speakers with personal assistants.

“Overall CE purchase expectations for 2018 are lower than reported in previous years,” Hanich said. “This decline is in line with current trends, although actual purchase rates are typically higher than reported intentions, as consumers cannot always plan their purchases in advance. However, since the replacement cycles for TV and streaming devices are longer than those of smartphones, manufacturers will eventually face the challenging of convincing buyers to purchase an upgrade. One strategy is to integrate voice control into TVs and remotes, to enhance the user experience.”

Additional research also reveals:

• As of Q1 2018, only 21% of U.S. broadband households intended to purchase a smartphone, as compared to 28% of HHs in Q1 2017.
• 87% of smart watch owners rank features as a top five purchase consideration.
• Smart speaker households own an average of four more CE devices than non-smart speaker households: 45% own 12 or more CE devices.

For more information about 360 View: CE Adoption and Trends, contact [email protected]. To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific research data, please contact Julia Homier at [email protected], 972-996-0202.

About Parks Associates: Parks Associates, a woman-founded and certified business, is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates provides business intelligence and research services through its proprietary methodologies developed over decades, including quarterly surveys of 10,000 internet households.

The company's expertise crosses many industries: home security and smart home, streaming video, broadband and pay-TV services, digital media and platforms, gaming, Wi-Fi and home networks, connected health, support, consumer electronics, home control systems, energy management, and tech solutions for the multi-dwelling (MDU), small-to-medium business (SMB), and commercial building markets.

Each year, Parks Associates brings thousands of leaders together for its webinars and annual events. The firm hosts the annual executive research and strategy conferences CONNECTIONS™, Connected Health Summit, Smart Energy Summit, Smart Spaces, and Future of Video. https://www.parksassociates.com
 

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