16 May 2018
Why smart home technology is leaving Brits baffled
Nearly 650 shops and restaurants, run by a handful of major chains, have shut since the start of 2018 or are at risk of closure with Maplin and Toys R Us sites accounting for half that total, according to a recent analysis by BBC 5 live's Wake Up to Money. The week preceding this article the BBC published another piece entitled ‘6 shops defying the high street downturn.' So what is really happening? That there is always opportunity for retailers they’re just not optimising it.
At the beginning of this year we published a study ‘Shopper Influencers’ which revealed that the bricks and mortar retail environment still plays a significant role in influencing shoppers purchasing decisions, especially across high value products and considered purchases. This hypothesis is supported by the European Hardware Association, whose recent research highlighted that specialist retailers are still sought after for hardware purchases demonstrating a greater need for knowledge.
We wanted to investigate these findings in more detail and decided to look at one of the fastest growing consumer categories - smart home tech and smart home purchasing behaviour among adults aged 18+. And the results from this study ‘Smart Home Shoppers’ are insightful for retailers.
