Home Appliances ANALYSIS: SMART PRODUCTS
‘We forecast 89%
July/August 2018
ertonline.co.uk
growth in 2018’ Futuresource analyst Felipe Oliveira forecasts strong growth for smart appliances but believes voice control will not be a major trigger for sales
Market research fi rm Futuresource Consulting tracks smart laundry and refrigeration. The company says that in 2017, 3.6 per cent of the shipments of laundry and refrigeration in the UK featured a wi-fi connection. This amounts to around 300,000 units in a total market of just below eight million. Felipe Oliveira, a market analyst at Futuresource Consulting, says: “The smart
42 Whirlpool Supreme Care washer and dryer
appliance market has been growing fast from a small base in the UK. We forecast 89 per cent growth in 2018. By the end of the year, smart appliances should account for 10 per cent of the overall appliances market. “Consumer research conducted by Futuresource Consulting in April 2018 in
France, Germany, the US and the UK, showed that across all markets price is the biggest barrier to adoption. In the UK, 55 per cent of consumers who lack interest in purchasing a smart appliance say that the main reason is that they are “too expensive”. The second biggest barrier, Mr Oliveira says, is lack of enticing use cases. Some 47 per cent of consumers in the UK say that they do not see a use for smart appliances. So, will voice interaction, via Alexa or Google Home, for example, be the trigger that drives sales of smart appliances? Mr Oliveira says: “The short answer is no. Our research shows that voice assistance has been a driver in smart-home devices, such as smart lighting or smart climate control. However, it is not having the same impact in smart appliances. One reason for this is that major appliances are big-ticket items that tend to be replaced once every decade. Most consumers replace their refrigeration or laundry machines only when they break. “Voice assistance is not set to be a purchase trigger in appliances in the same
method. Some 79 per cent of consumers said they used the internet for their initial research however, when it came to purchasing the item, they chose to visit a physical store to make the purchase. Reasons for visiting a physical store included seeing the item in ‘real life’, rather than relying solely on images, and to ensure they had made the right decision.
GfK’s Mr Herzog says that one of the things that will soon launch into the market are appliances that feature voice interaction, with smart voice assistants, such as Amazon Alexa or Google Home. These will enable users to control their appliance by speech. Beko’s Mr Shepherd says: “We’ve seen with the success of Siri and Alexa that voice control is becoming an accepted way of interacting with your devices, so we believe this is definitely an area for growth. “From 2019, voice control tech will be available across the majority of our brands. Consumers will be able to control their home appliances through Amazon’s voice-activation system Alexa, with the ability to turn these appliances on and off, and monitor the progress of washing and cooking programs simply by asking. This leaves families free to enjoy their time together.”
The independent electrical retail sector is important for the growth of the connected appliance market as a result of the knowledge and advice retailers can offer to consumers, as well as being able to demonstrate connected appliances – something internet retailing cannot offer
Catherine Balderson, brand manager, Whirlpool
way that it is in smart lighting for example. That said, several important appliance manufacturers have added voice control to their devices, including Samsung, LG and Whirlpool.” He adds: “In the UK, eight per cent of smart speaker owners use them to control their large appliances and almost fi ve per cent use them to give voice commands to small appliances. As the replacement of old appliances takes place, we expect the use case of voice assistance to increase.” Looking at the European market, where does the UK sit in terms of its sales
of smart appliances? “The UK is the main smart-home market in Europe. However, it lags behind Germany. The main reason is that the German market tends to favour premium appliances from the likes of Miele and BSH.”
To increase the sales of connected appliances, it is imperative to have
products displayed in a setting that is relevant to your customer and wired for demonstration.
Retailers should team up with manufacturers that have demo modes built into their connected appliances. Let the consumer take control, using the demo mode, via an app on their phone. Show them the benefits, and what a difference it will make to their lives and the savings it offers on time and resources.
Hoover’s Mr Macdonald adds: “With the ability to control every kind of kitchen appliance available, app tech means the kitchen of the future is already here.” The future is smart – and independent electrical retailers cannot ignore this and the vast changes that are happening in the market. There has never been a better time for the retailer to start the investment and exploration of this new technology to create the consumer-driven development the technology needs.
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