NEW YORK— As the market for connected housewares matures, several inherent challenges continue to affect its performance and growth. Interoperability and security remain a part of every conversation but retail strategies and selling the consumer experience have also become major hurdles to overcome.
When it comes to retail, the entire landscape has been influenced by the concept of smart home, but many brick-and-mortar retailers have yet to develop successful strategies. Still, smart home presents new opportunities.
“It’s really tough. Retailers are jaded and they have other issues. We’re looking for partners to help us tell our story but it’s a thing that happens over time,” said Mike Wallace, CEO, Perfect Company, which recently partnered with Vitamix to introduce the Vitamix Perfect Blend smart scale and recipe app. “We’ve done some big box and it’s been okay, but it’s hard, especially for something like us that’s completely different.”
Many retailers are looking at e-commerce to cement their place as successful smart home sellers, but industry experts have noted a flaw.
“Everyone is putting their resources behind e-commerce, but they’re missing out on the fact that physical retail is still absolutely critical. Almost 80% of consumers are still craving that physical interaction with products and with people when shopping, and that’s not going to change anytime soon,” said Phillip Raub, co-founder and CEO of b8ta, a retailer of smart home devices (see story, page 16).
Raub noted that retail, “Needs to think about how they can change the business and start creating better experiences, and an experience isn’t just necessarily changing your displays and reorganizing your store. It goes down to using technology and creating more conveniences for consumers.”
When it comes to connected health devices, the same hurdles at retail exist. Liat Ben-Zur, svp/digital technology, Philips, echoed Raub’s sentiments, noting, “I’m a huge believer that with a lot of these new technologies, touching, seeing, feeling still really matters and being able to go to a store and actually have these things working is quite meaningful.”
She noted, however, that brick-and-mortar may not be the only path. “I think there’s going to be a ton that happens online, but I also think, especially for connected health and digital health, it doesn’t necessarily have to go direct to consumer. I think you’re going to see health systems, insurance companies and government run agencies start to look at a lot of these products and recognize that, if it can deliver lower costs, reduce the burden on those systems and improve the outcomes, they are going to want to pay in bulk for these solutions and give it away,” she said.
Selling the consumer experience is another major hurdle that needs to be overcome before widespread adoption of connected devices can take hold. Industry experts noted that creating relevancy is often not easily accomplished in the smart home space.
“I feel like too often companies come out and launch product and the problems that they’re solving aren’t properly articulated. When you start to think about crossing this mass chasm, what is it that the customer truly wants?” Raub said.
Wallace also noted that products in the connected kitchen space struggle to craft their story, and that it’s “one of the hardest pieces.”
“Smart home has had some failures and some false starts. I think it’s natural for the category. Recipes and making things is uniquely human, so it’s complicated, which is why we’ve really focused on genres in recipes and not trying to be an overarching solution. It’s been great but it’s a process,” he said. “It’s a long road, and it’s really figuring out what users are willing to adopt and use.”
In addition, when choosing a connected device for the home, consumers have to be convinced that the product will not only function as long as its non-connected counterpart but that the manufacturer will continue to maintain the technology that drives it. Manufacturers who aptly sell their products’ story must now also sell their own commitment to it as part of the consumer experience.
“As we’ve seen with a lot of examples, there’s a lot of cool innovation that’s happening at these companies at the expense of consumers. A hugely publicized one is Google Glass. Consumers plunk down their $700 or $800 for a pair of Google Glass only to find out that Google is shutting down the whole division because ‘it was an interesting experiment’ but they’re not going to continue to support it. The same concerns apply for a high priced blender or juicer,” said Carley Knobloch, a digital lifestyle expert, technology consultant and host for the HGTV Smart Home.
Technological advancements will continue to drive housewares appliance development, and vendors noted that the concept of a truly connected, voice controlled home is on the horizon. But, in addition to the products entering the market, the industry itself will have to get smart in order to see that concept become reality.
