Smart Plug Online Sales Increased 60% Since Before the Pandemic
In-Depth Analysis of Smart Plug Users
ON World's recently completed survey with 200 smart plug users in the US and Canada found that owning multiple smart plugs is the norm. Respondents own 4.9 smart plugs on average and 41% have 5 or more. Nearly all are planning to purchase additional smart plugs in the next 2 years with 71% planning to buy 4 or more smart plugs.
Two-thirds bought their first smart plug within the past 3 years and 3 in 5 indicate that smart plugs were their first smart home product.
Respondents in this survey have an average of 9.5 total smart home devices with 2 in 5 having more than 5 smart home devices. In addition to smart plugs, respondents also own smart speakers (74%), safety/security sensors (58%), Security camera/doorbell (56%), smart light bulbs/lamps/strip/fixture (52%) and smart light switch/dimmer (46%).
Installation/Setup Experience
Four in five had smart plugs or outlets installed through a home service provider (e.g. utility, security services or cable/telco operator) and 1 in 10 used a professional installer other than a home service provider. However, most products are purchased retail/online with over half (53%) setup/installed smart plugs/outlets themselves or had this done by a friend/family member.
Three in five (57%) experienced challenges during their smart plug/outlet installation. For them, the most commonly named installation difficulties were related to networking (24%) followed by general setup/installation problems (21%), electricity/power issues (9%) and mobile app (6%).
Satisfaction & Preferences
Four in five of respondents are satisfied with their smart plugs/outlets with over half of these highly satisfied. Half interact with their smart plugs/outlets at least daily and 84% interact at least weekly.
Remote monitoring is used by 62% of the smart plug users while over half (56%) integrate their smart plug with other smart home products. Energy monitoring is also used by over half (55%) with 51% participating in a utility load control program.
Reliability, usefulness and integration are rated the most important smart plug features by 3 in 5 respondents. Respondents are most interested in integrating their smart plug with smart light switches (65%), smart light bulb (63%), Security cameras (62%), Video doorbells (535) and smart thermostats (46%).
Amazon is the most popular brand (88%) followed by SmartThings (50%), Kasa/TP-Link (40%), WeMo/Belkin (38%), GE Lighting (36%) and Wyze (34%).
Channels
Online is the most popular smart plug sales channel. Nearly 4 in 5 (83%) indicate they are most likely to buy smart plugs from Amazon followed by electronic outlets such as Best Buy (51%), Home Centers (e.g. Home Depot, Lowe's) with 49%, Hardware stores (43%) and Mass market chains (e.g. Walmart, Target).
ON World analysis of thousands of online product listings and nearly half a million reviews found that smart plug online sales increased 11% last year which was 160% times higher than in 2019. These trends also show that outdoor smart plugs had the highest growth over this three year period, increasing by nearly 150% faster than indoor smart plugs.
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ON World provides market research and business intelligence on Internet of Things (IoT). Since 2003, our research reports, datasets and customized research services have been used by Fortune 500 companies, investors and developers worldwide to advance IoT solutions in hundreds of industries.
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