The at-home economy is booming, but smart home device sales are not seeing proportional growth.
In the past year, people have been spending almost all of their time at home during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has greatly boosted the stay-at-home economy. With the flourishing of the at-home economy, smart home vendors may expect proportional growth in smart home device adoption. Unfortunately, they may be disappointed. According to research from several analyst firms, the last year has seen big growth in certain categories of smart home devices but did not have a huge effect on the overall adoption of smart home implementations.
What Kind of Smart Home Devices Did People Buy during COVID-19 Times?
“Household spread” is one of the most common paths to a COVID-19 infection, appliances come with special features that could help protect people against the spread of COVID-19 and make homes safer. For instance, smart speakers can help people to prevent cross-contamination among family members by controlling home devices via voice without touching common switches. According to the research data, smart speakers were at the top of the list of smart home devices that people purchased, in addition to smart lighting, video doorbells, smart thermostats, and security cameras.
- Smart Speaker: Over the recent months, smart speakers with voice assistant features have become more useful than ever before. Smart speakers extensively reduce the need to touch surfaces and objects at home, such as light switches, and remote controls, evolving from a nice-to-have feature to a necessity. Strategy Analytics reported that global smart speaker sales reached a record level in 2020, in spite of the challenging conditions precipitated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Smart Lighting: Light switches are one of the most frequently touched objects in a home, but by using smart lighting, homeowners can avoid touching more surfaces and possibly spreading the virus. Additionally, smart lighting is energy-saving and creates a more comfortable and relaxed home environment.
- Video Doorbell: Video doorbells provide an effective way of managing visitors at your front door, providing contactless communication by using the built-in speaker and microphone on the video doorbells. This can greatly reduce direct contact with others, and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
- Smart Thermostat: The global pandemic is transforming every industry, and the energy industry is no exception. As people spend more time at home, residential energy demand is increasing dramatically. Smart thermostats can adjust when air conditioners or heaters are running based on prescheduled blocks of time each day. This provides relief from rising power bills by helping busy families seamlessly manage energy consumption to make their lives at home easier and more comfortable.
- Security Camera: With people spending more time at home during the pandemic, it’s more important than ever to be secured. These days, security cameras do far more than just record video, they also include critical features like night vision and motion controls, that provide clear images of critical areas.
The COVID-19 pandemic can be a difficult time to live through, however, there are plenty of appliances that can make our lives more secure and comfortable. ThroughTek provides advanced P2P/IoT technology that can connect numerous smart home devices and enable users to conveniently manage their systems based on usage scenarios and daily habits. ThroughTek is committed to the development of device connectivity technology and cloud services platforms, in addition to meeting our customers’ diverse needs and providing comprehensive solutions to help our customers win business opportunities in this constantly evolving market. To learn more about our solutions, please visit our website or contact us at marketing.en@tutk.com.
