- Contents
- *Overview
- What you need to know
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Products covered in this Report
What you need to know
There continues to be significant growth in the ownership of voice-controlled speakers, rising from 23% in 2019 to 29% in 2020, with an expanding range of speakers from the likes of Amazon, Google and Apple at a variety of price points. Amazon continues to dominate the voice-controlled speaker market, with 76% of people who have a speaker in their household saying their main or only speaker is an Echo.
The COVID-19 lockdown has increased the incentive for people to buy smart displays, which made up 26% of the voice-controlled speakers in March 2020. Smart displays are an appealing product as more people video call friends and family and the devices can provide weather and news information at a quick glance for people working from home.
Despite the growth in voice-controlled speakers, ownership growth for other smart home devices continues to stall. Ownership of smart lightbulbs increased by just 1 percentage point, whilst smart washing machines, vacuum cleaners and fridge/freezers stayed the same. The biggest barriers to purchase are cost and people just seeing the devices as gimmicks.
Smart security is still the smart home device that consumers are most interested in buying (41%), while of those who are interested, 39% would be open to monitoring deliveries made into their home via a smart security item.
Key issues covered in this Report
The short, medium and long-term impact of COVID-19 on the connected home sector.
Which products will be most successful in appealing to people confined to their homes during lockdown period or are still cautious about going out as restrictions are lifted.
Launch activity and innovation in the connected home sector across the last year.
Consumer ownership of smart home devices and interest in buying.
Opinions on the importance of smart home devices and barriers to purchasing.
Products covered in this Report
For the purposes of this Report the labels ‘smart’ and ‘connected’ refer to a family of features including: home automation and adaptive behaviour powered by machine learning; connectivity with other devices (including, but not limited to, a user’s smartphone) via various protocols (including Wi-Fi and Bluetooth); and providing users with data on device usage (eg energy consumption data).
Devices referred to as ‘smart’ and/or ‘connected’ may have some, but not all of these features. The connected home products included within the scope of Mintel’s consumer research for this Report are:
- Smart heating appliance/thermostat (eg Nest Learning Thermostat, Hive Active Heating)
- Smart security devices (including door locks, cameras and sensors)
- Smart lighting (eg Phillips Hue)
- Smart appliances (eg fridges)
- Smart audio speakers (eg Sonos Play)
- Smart home hub controllers (eg SmartThings Hub)
- Voice-controlled speakers with embedded virtual assistants (eg Amazon Echo, Google Home). A smart display is a voice-controlled display (eg Amazon Echo Show 5, Facebook Portal).
