U.S. Voice-activated Speaker Sales To See 50 Percent Growth By 2019, According to NPD Forecast

PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y., Aug. 14, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- According to the Future of Tech report from global information company, The NPD Group, sales of voice-activated speakers will add an incremental $1.6 billion dollars to the U.S. technology industry through 2019[1], as these devices are leveraged both as an interface to smart home services and as digital assistants. Alongside voice-activated speakers, sales of home automation devices will add an additional $1.7 billion dollars to the technology industry through 2019[1], with 19 percent of consumers planning to purchase a device in the next 12 months[2].

As consumers are increasingly interested in leveraging voice-activated speakers to control smart home products, voice-activated speaker sales are expected to experience 50 percent U.S. dollar growth from 2016-2017 to 2018-2019[1]. According to the report, demand for voice control in streaming speakers will grow the segment to nearly $2.7 billion by 2019.

"While many new households will explore the smart home experience in the next two years, propelled by the growing ownership of voice-activated speakers, the biggest and best opportunity for retail may remain in encouraging the installed smart home base to make incremental device purchases, and to then provide services to help consumers fully leverage the technology in their smart home," stated Stephen Baker, vice president, industry advisor for The NPD Group. "For example, upgrades in networking equipment are a crucial incremental sales opportunity. As the number of connected devices on the home network increase, consumers will come to the realization that they need better equipment to support those devices."

The rise of home automation devices, alongside usage of smartphones, tablets, computers, streaming media players, and gaming consoles, is overtaxing wireless network capabilities in many homes. As a solution, U.S. consumers are upgrading to Mesh Wi-Fi networks, driving a sharp uptick in sales. According to the report, U.S. mesh networking sales are expected to see an 88 percent U.S. dollar growth from 2017 to 2019[1]. In fact, by 2019, about half of every dollar spent in the consumer networking category will be on Mesh Wi-Fi.

The Future of Tech report is a 24-month tech industry forecast with analysis and insights that cover over 200 technology categories. To show what lies ahead, this report combines point-of-sale data, consumer information, receipt data, and industry expertise to help companies across the industry maximize their potential.

[1] Reached by comparing anticipated 2018-2019 revenue vs. on-record 2016-2017 performance, in order to establish incremental dollars coming to a category.
[2] The NPD Group/2018 U.S. Consumer Tech Forecast and custom consumer survey data

About The NPD Group, Inc.
NPD is the leading global provider of market information and business solutions covering brick-and-mortar, e-commerce, and emerging channels in more than 20 industries. We combine our unique data assets with analytic solutions to help our clients measure performance, predict trends, and improve results, advising them to help drive successful growth. Practice areas include apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, books, consumer electronics, e-commerce, entertainment, fashion accessories, food consumption, foodservice, footwear, home, juvenile products, mobile, office supplies, retail, sports, technology, toys, travel retail, games, and watches / jewelry. For more information, visit npd.com and npdgroupblog.com. Follow us on Twitter: @npdgroup and @npdtech.

SOURCE NPD