As the usage of smart home has increased across Indian households, almost 92% users say that voice-control has made it convenient for them to set up a smart home. This insight came up in a study conducted by Techarc for Amazon India, to understand smart home adoption and usage trends in India. The study collected inputs from over 1200 smart home users, residing across metro and non-metro cities.
The key inferences from the smart home study are (1) Mass adoption of smart home is a recent phenomenon – Of all the study respondents, more than 90% have purchased their first smart home device in the last two years. (2) Adoption of smart home is driven by the urge to try new technology: In general, users across metro & non-metro cities rank ‘to try new technology’ as a primary reason for adoption of smart home devices. (3) Family and friends are the most popular sources of information about smart devices:
Smart home users in India are most influenced by family and friends to know more about new devices, their features, and reviews. (4) Smart home utility has expanded from entertainment to productivity: Smart TVs (73%) and smart speakers (45%) are the top two devices in a typical smart home configuration. (5) ‘Smartisation’ is inevitable for creating a sustainable brand: Many incumbent brands manufacturing home appliances have been able to maintain their position as the preferred choice for customers because of ‘smartisation’ of their range of appliances.
The key inference from the qualitative study: Smart homes give peace of mind and make technology inclusive. Voice assistants enable all family members to engage with smart devices without any restrictions.
