The smart home market is expected to grow at a rate of 30 per cent year-on-year, thereby ensuring that the market will double in revenue every three years, according to a survey by Schneider Electric.
The survey revealed high awareness among respondents about Smart Homes, which was almost universal in metros and upper-end segments. As per the survey, security, convenience and energy efficiency were the largest drivers for smart homes. “Almost 75 per cent respondents were aware of Smart Homes, which was almost universal among the upper-end segment. But awareness was low among the lower end, since these respondents hailed from smaller towns, with 11 per cent not aware even on being prompted. The quality of knowledge about Smart Homes across budget segments was quite good, especially in metros, but vague in non-metros,” said Shrinivas Chebbi, vice-president, Schneider Electric India.
On being exposed to the smart homes concept, most customers expressed likeness for security features, video door, IP cameras, motion sensors and gas leakage sensors.Some liked the UPS, as they realised that drop in power could impact all gadgets. On evaluating service providers for smart homes, customers were mostly seeking a large company that was a technology leader, while a few said they would prefer dealing only with their builders.