Lowe’s Study Reveals Security Is Main Reason Consumers Purchase ‘Smart Home’

Data from the Lowe’s 2014 Smart Home Survey reveals that 62 percent of Americans rank security and home monitoring as the most beneficial reason to own a smart home.

It’s not often that we see stale Rosie the Robot and “The Jetsons” references these days, but national home improvement chain Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) cited those cliches plenty in revealing the results of a new national survey on home automation.

The data from the Lowe’s 2014 Smart Home Survey reveals that a majority of Americans are generally favorable to smart homes, with 50 percent preferring do-it-yourself solutions, and nearly two-thirds (62 percent) find the smart home most beneficial for monitoring safety and security.

The Smart Home Survey, conducted online in July by Harris Poll on behalf of Lowe’s (makers of the Iris home automation system), polled more than 2,000 U.S. adults aged 18+ and finds that 52 percent of Americans feel that having a smart home is at least somewhat important to them. When it comes to purchasing consideration, more than half (56 percent) of Americans cite either cost or fees as the most important deciding factor (31 percent say monthly fee amount and 26 percent say the cost of equipment), followed by ease of use (13 percent) and security (11 percent).

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“In general, Americans feel positively toward products that will make their homes safer, more energy efficient and easier to manage. It is added evidence that the smart home and Internet of Things are here to stay,” said Kevin Meagher, Lowe’s vice president and general manager, Smart Home. “People want DIY solutions that are simple and affordable, and that’s exactly what we provide with Iris. Lowe’s makes the home smarter by offering an easy, single user interface where consumers can control everything in and around their home with the brands they already know and trust.”

Additional key findings:

  • In addition to citing overall cost as the most important factor in the purchasing decision of smart home products, Americans are more than twice as likely to prefer a DIY solution without a monthly fee over a professional installed/monitored system with a monthly service fee (50 percent vs. 21 percent).
  • Forty percent say a benefit of owning a smart home would be to cut costs and save money on energy bills.
  • 62 percent of Americans rank security and home monitoring as the most beneficial reason to own a smart home. Overall convenience comes in at third place (35 percent), and protection from floods, fire and other disasters (29 percent) ranks fourth.
  • Americans aged 65 and older (24 percent) are more than twice as likely as those aged 18-64 (11 percent) to name ease-of-use as the most important factor in smart home product purchase consideration.
  • One-third (36 percent) of Americans, most smartphone or tablet owners (70 percent) wish they could just control something in their home from their mobile device without getting out of bed. An automatic meal machine ranked second (19 percent), followed by the Flying Suit (16 percent).
  • In order of importance, Americans who own a smartphone or tablet want to adjust the thermostat (44 percent), turn on the lights (39 percent) or start the coffee pot (27 percent) before getting out of bed.
  • Nearly half of Americans (49 percent) wish their home would already be the perfect temperature when they arrive home. Other popular wishes include the lights being on (37 percent) and doors being unlocked (27 percent).
  • The top three things Americans wish they could control before they arrive home are actually the same three things they’re most likely to forget to do before leaving the house: turn off the lights (18 percent), adjust the thermostat (15 percent) or lock the door (5 percent).
  • Over half of Americans (52 percent) admit they forget to do something when they leave the home.
  • 61 percent of parents with children ages 3-17 plan to monitor their children in some way when they go back to school.
  • 35 percent plan to buy their child a cell phone
  • 19 percent will use at-home cameras.17 percent will receive text notifications
  • 13 percent plan to put a GPS or monitoring device in their child’s backpack
  • People in the western region of the country (23 percent) are more likely than those in the Northeast (4 percent) or Midwest (9 percent) to put a GPS or monitoring device in their child’s backpack.
  • Midwesterners are the least likely (41 percent) to monitor their children in any way when they go back to school.
  • Men are more likely (68 percent) than women (55 percent) to monitor their child’s after-school activity.

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This survey was conducted online within the United States between July 10-12, 2014 among 2,088 adults ages 18 and older by Harris Poll on behalf of Lowe’s via its Quick Query omnibus product. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online.

 

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About the Author

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Jason Knott is Chief Content Officer for Emerald Expositions Connected Brands. Jason has covered low-voltage electronics as an editor since 1990, serving as editor and publisher of Security Sales & Integration. He joined CE Pro in 2000 and serves as Editor-in-Chief of that brand. He served as chairman of the Security Industry Association’s Education Committee from 2000-2004 and sat on the board of that association from 1998-2002. He is also a former board member of the Alarm Industry Research and Educational Foundation. He has been a member of the CEDIA Business Working Group since 2010. Jason graduated from the University of Southern California. Have a suggestion or a topic you want to read more about? Email Jason at [email protected]

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