ANALYSIS: SMART HOME & CUSTOM INSTALL Home Entertainment


22 Making smarter choices


Consumers have been investing in a huge amount of smart home technology recently; many have opted for DIY devices, while others have gone all-out for integrated, automated solutions. Either way, retailers should smarten up to the endless possibilities in this particular market.


has been very popular. People spending much more time at home has also resulted in greater investment in home


H


omes are getting smarter… much smarter. Thanks to the pandemic, technology that has enabled people to socialise, be entertained and work from home with ease


renovation and improvements – which has been great news for electrical retailers and for professional technology integrators. “We’ve seen a real acceleration in the trend for


technologies to facilitate working from home… or as some are calling it, living at work,” comments Matt Nimmons, Managing Director of CEDIA EMEA. Mr Nimmons says that many CEDIA members


have been delivering robust and secure Wi-Fi connected spaces that can serve as the home office, complete with the high-quality audio and video performance to match. He adds: “If dedicated rooms are not available,


then our members have been adding home office functionality to existing media rooms, which are, by definition, multi-functional spaces and can be re-purposed for gaming or family viewing at other times. “Unsurprisingly, dedicated cinema rooms have


been big business during the pandemic and the design and installation work for these spaces are showing no signs of slowing down.”


Voice control and touchless technologies have


also been extremely popular recently, and will continue to be as people get used to life in a post-pandemic world where everyone is more conscious of living without touching. Alongside smart assistants, another big driver of


the market, according to Exertis, has been Wi-Fi and powerline, Wi-Fi extenders and whole home mesh Wi-Fi systems – driven by demand and the lowering in cost as mesh Wi-Fi sales increased.


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