Smart Home Tracker notes a shift in smart home sales strategies from Amazon and Google

Parks Associates announced new smart home research today showing 26% of smart home owners purchased their devices from brick-and-mortar retail stores such as Best Buy, Home Depot, or Walmart, making this channel the most commonly used among U.S. consumers. By 2021, more than 10 million smart home controllers will be sold in the U.S., and more than eight million will be sold through retail or other related channels.

The firm’s U.S. Smart Home Tracker: Market Sizing & Trends notes this trend has influenced sales strategies for online giants Google and Amazon, which are striking partnerships with physical retailers as they are expanding the visibility of smart home products with POS displays, experience centers, and expanded shelf space.

“Smart home products flourish in face-to-face and consultative sales channels, where an expert can demonstrate use cases and present personalized value propositions to consumers,” said Brad Russell, Research Director, Connected Home, Parks Associates. “Brick-and-mortar retailers have an advantage here, and they are leveraging their assets in a competition to be the trusted advisor on connected living. To lower barriers, many are offering these services at no cost.”

Best Buy recently added shelf space for Amazon Alexa and Google Home products in nearly 700 U.S. stores to capitalize on mounting consumer interest. Amazon has also expanded its sales strategies by announcing partnerships with former retail rivals such as Kohl’s, Sears, and Best Buy, while also showcasing products in recently acquired Whole Foods stores. Google responded by announcing a partnership with Walmart that enables consumers to order Walmart items through Google Home for home delivery.

Lowe’s, following a successful pilot of its partnership with b8ta, is expanding its "Smart Home powered by b8ta" shopping experience to 70 stores nationwide, where consumers can trial and get support for a variety of smart home technologies. b8ta’s innovative retail-as-a-service offering leverages data-driven customer insights to streamline the education and purchase process while giving manufacturers valuable data for future merchandising efforts. b8ta has opened stores of its own in eight major U.S. cities.

“These moves will blur the lines between online and offline retail,” Russell said. “Consumers will expect access to product information and products anytime, anywhere. This is new territory so it remains to be seen whether these partnerships are mutually beneficial or more lopsided than intended.”

U.S. Smart Home Tracker: Market Sizing & Trends provides ongoing analysis of key industry trends, market shifts and sizing, and insights about key smart home and IoT products and services and player announcements.

Parks Associates will host CONNECTIONS™ Summit: Engaging Consumers: IoT and the Smart Home on January 9 at CES in Las Vegas. The event includes five sessions and two special sessions featuring analysis of the firm’s smart home research and panel discussions with executives from ADT, Carrier, Comcast, Google, Intel, Samsung, Vivint, and more:

• Smart Home Platforms: Unlocking Consumer Value
• Moving the Smart Home beyond Early Adopters
• Voice Control: Improving the Smart Home Experience
• Support, Privacy, and Connected Consumers: Providing a Seamless Experience
• DIY Smart Home Security: The Next Big Opportunity
• Smart Home & Interoperability: Expanding Ease of Use
• Creating Compelling IoT Services with AI and Data Analytics
• Smart Home and IoT: Health and Wellness Applications

For more information about Parks Associates’ research and events, contact [email protected]. To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific data, contact Julia Homier at [email protected], 972-996-0214.

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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