Smart Home Shopper study

The results from a recent study this week by field marketing agency Gekko entitled ‘Smart Home Shopper’ reveals that more than half of Brits have purchased smart technology for their homes – but have no idea how to use it. The survey by was conducted among 1000 UK consumers between that ages of 18 and 55+.

The study which investigated smart home purchasing behaviour found that 56 percent of adults have bought the latest must-have smart home tech, including WIFI controlled security cameras, heating systems and speakers - but have been left scratching their heads when they get them home. In fact, three in ten consumers regretted buying at least one or more items of smart home technology because it proved so difficult to get up and running.

Nearly a third of adults say they never read instructions or manuals when they buy a new piece of kit, while 21 percent admit that although they have a love of tech, they are intimidated by the complexities of it. Thirteen percent of consumers who have invested in smart home technology said they couldn’t get all their devices to connect – which is the whole point of having a ‘smart home.’ More than one in ten have used a piece of smart home tech once and never again.

The trickiest bit of kit to install was security equipment (45%), including app-controlled doorbells, motion sensors and CCTV, however 28 percent couldn’t get their smart lighting to work and 35 per cent came unstuck when installing their smart heating system. Twelve percent claimed poor WIFI connection made installation difficult and 15 percent confessed to lacking any technical ability.

Surprisingly and despite its current popularity, 30 per cent of adults that have purchased a smart speaker such as the Amazon Echo or Google Home don’t understand all its functionality.

Those people that bought their smart home tech from a bricks and mortar shop did so to play, touch and feel the product (40%), get advice from sales staff (30%) and a demonstration (30%).

Dan Todaro, MD, Gekko comments: “It’s clear from our study that smart home tech is popular, but people don’t know how to fully utilise smart home tech to meet their lifestyle needs – whether that’s convenience, money saving, leisure time or learning.

This is a great opportunity for retailers, especially bricks and mortar to improve the customer experience within the smart home tech category by having an environment where consumers can ‘play’ and a retail team that understand each product in detail and can match consumer need to product performance. By solution selling it’s a win win for the customer and the retailer – the retailer can enrich the sale by demonstrating the whole product portfolio and functionality and the customer gets a product that’s fit for purpose.

Traditional retailers have never been under so much financial pressure to adapt to today’s market conditions, so they must use what they’ve got to make every customer visit worthwhile.”

Other key statistics:

Key Stats – Pain:

• 50% of consumers invested in smart home tech purely because they like trying new gadgets and 30% to save money
• 54% of consumers think smart home tech is too expensive
• 17% of consumers get stressed out trying to operate their smart home tech

Key Stats – Passion:

• Consumers tend to use their smart home speakers for playing music (56%), getting answers to questions (46%), getting news & weather updates (35%) and making notes (27%)

Key Stats – Purchasing:

• Thirty Seven per cent of consumers went to bricks and mortar stores to by their smart home tech so that they could play, touch and feel the product (40%), get advice from sales staff (30%) and a demonstration (30%)