Market for Smart Home Technology is Slow to Show Growth

Although lots of people are interested in using or incorporating smart home technology, the actual growth of this market is still relatively slow according to an article in dealerscope.com. This article points out that even though smart home technology has been talked about for a number of years now, people are being slow to actually implement it in their homes.

Apparently, there are a couple of reasons as to why this is happening and cost could definitely be a major factor. Smart home technology was introduced onto the market up around the same time as the last financial crisis and initially, products were pricey. This initial impression is proving hard to overcome with some consumers still believing that it would cost many thousands of dollars to convert their home into a smart home. The reality is that buying smart home products could cost just a couple of hundred dollars.

Another major problem is concerns about security with data privacy being a particular issue. Not surprisingly many people are reluctant to buy products they feel could divulge their personal information. This means that just four in 10 households have an automation device that is currently active.

A recent survey showed that 59% of the respondents didn’t own any automation devices while 63% thought it would be unlikely they’d purchase such a device in the near future. Major reasons for being uninterested in these types of purchases included the price combined with a lack of perceived benefits and concerns over privacy. Only a tiny percentage cited installation and monitoring these devices as a reason for not purchasing. Two-thirds of respondents didn’t own a voice assistant product and out of this figure, a further two-thirds said they would be unlikely to buy this type of product in the near future.

Even so, the article does show a positive side to all this information pointing out that even though most consumers consider themselves to be tech-savvy, very few take the time to educate themselves on new products. They expect something to work instantly and when it doesn’t they are likely to just give up. Educating these consumers could be the way forward to show automation devices are easy to use, can provide real benefits and are really quite user-friendly.