Home Automation


Smart homes: a huge market opportunity


As smart home products become an everyday electrical essential, too much of the buying journey is happening without wholesalers in the room, says Liam Cater, product manager at Repenic.


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n this feature, he explains why wholesalers should act now, before the market decides this buying habit without them.


Smart home demand keeps growing, but much of that growth is currently happening somewhere the trade counter isn’t: online. Homeowners, renovators and design-conscious customers no longer just want products that work. They want connected controls that are easy to use, visually refined and in keeping with the wider design of the home, and increasingly, they are finding that combination without ever speaking to a wholesaler.


Over time, smart switches, sockets and dimmers are likely to become as familiar in homes as traditional wiring accessories are today. For wholesalers, that makes smart home control less of a niche category and more of a future everyday essential, and one they risk having little say in unless they act now.


Owning the buying journey The opportunity is huge, but so is the risk. At present, much of the smart home buying journey starts online, and that is precisely because offline distributors largely don’t prioritise or sell smart products. As a result, before ever contacting a wholesaler or installer, customers usually search first, compare photos, read reviews, check specifications and make a purchase decision. Look further ahead and the stakes become clearer. Smart home products are likely to become as common as standard switches and sockets. Wholesalers who wait until then to build the category may find customers have already formed a fixed habit: research and buy online. That is the real channel risk: not missing today’s sales, but allowing tomorrow’s buying behaviour to be shaped elsewhere. The question is not whether smart home demand will grow, but who will own the customer conversation when it does. The caution wholesalers have shown is understandable. Smart products evolve quickly and often need more explanation than traditional accessories, and stockholding can feel riskier


20 | electrical wholesaler September 2026


than with established categories. But hesitation creates its own cycle: limited displays lead to limited product knowledge, which reduces sales confidence and pushes customers back online. For wholesalers who believe this category has a long-term future, entering earlier is not just an opportunity, it is how they protect their relevance in tomorrow’s buying journey.


What online cannot show


Online channels are effective for comparison, but less effective at experience. A product page can show images, specifications and price, but it cannot communicate how a product actually feels in the hand, how smoothly it operates or how it will look once installed alongside real furniture and lighting.


Many customers compensate by buying several products from different brands, comparing them at home and returning what they don’t want. It looks convenient, but it creates hidden costs across the supply chain: returns handling, logistics, customer time and decision fatigue. In many cases, online buying replaces expert guidance


The need for smart aesthetics Smart home products are no longer judged on functionality alone. Many of today’s smart products are intelligent enough, but their white plastic that looks out of place in a considered interior. At the same time, many design-led switches and sockets look the part but offer little real intelligence behind them. That leaves a clear gap: products that are genuinely smart, but also tactile, elegant and design-led.


Smart aesthetics are not a luxury. They are becoming essential to mainstream adoption, because switches, sockets and dimmers are used every day and sit visibly within the interior,


ewnews.co.uk with trial and error.


This is where wholesalers can offer something different. A well-presented counter display, sample board or product wall lets installers and customers touch the product, compare finishes and see how different controls work together. Even if the final order is placed online, that confidence is still built through physical experience and professional advice.


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