Parks Associates: Smart Home Players Deploy New Strategies to Streamline Offerings and Overcome Consumer Price Sensitivity, Lack of Benefits, and Privacy Concerns

DALLAS, March 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- 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. The firm's Smart Home Tracker finds 20.5 million, or 44% of consumers who do not own or intend to purchase a smart home device, report expensive prices as their reason to forgo adoption, followed by perceived lack of benefits and data and privacy concerns. To overcome the cost barrier, Apple is offering a smaller form factor for its HomePod, and Google is offering a new Nest thermostat with fewer features and a smaller price tag.

"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, 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 US broadband households that report using video services is 54% 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."

For information about the Smart Home Tracker, contact [email protected]. To schedule an interview with an analyst or to request specific research data, please contact Rosey Ulpino, [email protected], 972-490-1113.

About Parks Associates

Parks Associates, a woman-owned and woman-led internationally recognized market research and consulting company, specializes in emerging technology solutions serving the consumer and small to medium business (SMB) markets. Celebrating its 35th year in 2021, Parks Associates is a partner to companies navigating the changing consumer technology landscapes through data-driven market insights, extensive consumer and industry intelligence, custom marketing services and executive networking experiences and conferences. 

The company's expertise includes home automation, control systems and security, digital media and platforms, entertainment and gaming, home networks, internet and video services, connected health and independent living solutions, mobile applications and services, support services, consumer electronics, and energy management solutions.

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

Contact:
Rosey Ulpino
Parks Associates
972-490-1113
[email protected]

SOURCE Parks Associates