Parks Associates smart home research finds high perceived prices remain a top barrier to smart home adoption, with providers and manufacturers working to bring lower priced products to market and discontinue specific premium products.
“Perception of high prices is a key barrier to smart home device adoption, but it is also tied to the perception among non-owners that smart home devices do not offer any benefits to the lifestyle,” Patrice Samuels, senior analyst, Parks Associates. “Device manufacturers in the smart home market are evaluating multiple strategies to address the leading adoption barriers. Companies are betting that getting one device in the home, even as a loss leader, will convince consumers of the value of smart home devices and inspire future purchases. Our research indicates this is a sound strategy.”
Parks Associates notes that households that own at least one smart home device have an average of seven devices. Companies such as Eufy are offering lower priced models that retain most of the features of their higher-priced models, knowing there is a good chance that their customers will buy more products following this initial purchase.
The Smart Home Tracker, a quarterly service from Parks Associates, also finds that as new social distancing guidelines continue to impact schools and businesses, a number of tech giants – including Facebook and Google – are incorporating video conferencing solutions into their products and systems. The percentage of U.S. broadband households that report using video services is 54 percent higher than prior to the pandemic.
“One of the leading and overarching value propositions of smart home products is to improve convenience for users,” Samuels said. “Services like Zoom have become invaluable. Helping users to make video calls more conveniently increases the value of smart home devices in these times, and we expect to see additional integration around solutions like these.”
From the article "Parks Associates: Smart Home Players Look to Overcome Consumer Price Sensitivity" by Residential Tech Today.
Apple’s iPhone accounted for 40% of all smartphones in use in the US, according to the latest 360 View, Mobility & the App Economy research released by Parks Associates. Following up on comScore’s...
This lack of local channels is one reason that more households are using antennas, pulling in free over-the-air high-definition signals. In fact, Parks Associates, a research firm, estimates that one-...
If you're just getting started with free, over-the-air TV, you're in good company. Even many consumers who have switched to streaming video services, such as DirecTV Now or Sling TV, use an antenna fo...
Netflix and other streaming services have dealt with a variety of password-stealing schemes and other scams for years. Netflix announced earlier this year it was trying to crack down on password-shari...
