Retail channel accounts for largest percentage of units sold, underscoring need for interoperability across IoT devices

New smart home research from Parks Associates finds smart thermostats taking a larger portion of the market this year, accounting for over 40% of the nearly 10 million thermostats sold in the U.S. The report Winning Smart Home Strategies for Energy Management estimates smart thermostats will account for over 50% of the total market by 2017.

“Smart thermostats already account for more than one-half of the smart home devices in U.S. broadband households,” said Tom Kerber, Director, Research, Home Controls & Energy, Parks Associates. “Many utilities have promoted smart thermostats as part of their home energy management initiatives; however, the retail channel accounts for the most units sold last year, nearly 45% of the total market, so opening utility programs to include the variety of different types and brands of devices is an important consideration.”

Retailers such as Target, Walmart, and Best Buy are working to increase their offerings in the smart home category, including dedicated space to demonstrate these new products and build consumer awareness. Growth in the retail channel will have a ripple effect in multiple markets. Utilities and other energy service providers are developing strategies to leverage the big data from smart thermostats and other smart home devices for their demand response (DM) and energy efficiency (EE) programs.

“The cost of heating and cooling a home accounts for as much as 50% of the overall utility bill,” said Kerber. “Leveraging data can help consumers reduce energy use and utilities meet energy efficiency and demand response goals. Further, energy providers have the opportunity to monetize the mountain of data derived from both smart meters and smart devices.”

Winning Smart Home Strategies for Energy Management examines the integration of connected products and smart home systems into energy management solutions in addition to new distribution channels. It also analyzes the evolving use and impact of cloud services for demand response programs.

More information is available at www.parksassociates.com. To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific research data, please contact Holly Sprague at [email protected]. Parks Associates will host the seventh- annual Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer on February 22-24, 2016, at the Omni Hotel in Austin, Texas.

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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