Parks Associates: 27% of U.S. Broadband Households Bought Most Recent CE Purchase Through an Online Retailer

Research firm releases new consumer research on connected consumer electronics market

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Oct 03, 2018, 08:10 ET

DALLAS, Oct. 3, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 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.

Parks Associates: Where Consumers Most Recently Purchased Their CE Products

"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 is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from Fortune 500 to small start-ups through market reports, primary studies, consumer research, custom research, workshops, executive conferences, and annual service subscriptions.

The company's expertise includes digital media and platforms, entertainment and gaming, home networks, Internet and television services, digital health, mobile applications and services, support services, consumer apps, advanced advertising, consumer electronics, energy management, and home control systems and security.

Each year, Parks Associates hosts industry webcasts, the CONNECTIONS™ Conference Series, Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers, Smart Energy Summit: Engaging the Consumer, and Future of Video: OTT, Pay TV, and Digital Media. http://www.parksassociates.com

Julia Homier
Parks Associates
972.996.0214
[email protected]

SOURCE Parks Associates