Research: Tracking Home Automation and Security Growth

The 2014 Home Systems Study delivers perspective from those on the frontlines looking to market, sell, install and service new offerings like smart locks, IP cameras and connected smoke detectors.

80% of Dealers Expect More in 2014

Security Sales & Integration and Parks Associates collaborate on a security dealer survey each spring in order to assess activities and changes within the marketplace. Security dealers do not like answering surveys; as a result, there is always a good deal of margin of error within responses. That reality notwithstanding, these survey results provide a good sense of how dealers are doing and any changes in activities.

 

  • This year, more survey respondents are from small dealerships than in 2013; one-third report revenues for 2013 at $500K or below, compared with only 14% in 2012. This is not bad news; it points to more dealers finding the marketplace recovering enough to resume business or enter the business.
  • 65% of responding dealers report revenues for 2013 as higher than those for 2012, and 66% reported higher revenues for 2012 than for 2011. These are signs of a recovering, but not yet fully-recovered, industry. Fully, 80% expect that 2014 revenues will exceed those of 2013.
  • 68% of security dealers expect sales for remote control and monitoring equipment to be higher in 2014 than 2013, while only 3% expect them to be lower.
  • Security dealers report that about one-quarter of their installs are in new starts, while 44% are in existing homes acquiring security for the first time.
  • Interestingly, one clear difference among respondents in 2014 vs. 2013 is the percentage offering professional monitoring. In 2013, 83% reported offering professional monitoring services while only 61% report this for 2014. This is one more indicator that more small dealers responded to the SSI/Parks Associates survey in 2014 vs. 2013.
  • Small dealers are, of course, more likely to use third-party monitoring providers and less likely to use broadband as a primary communications path for alerts than large dealers or broadband providers themselves. However, the use of broadband as a communications path will inevitably increase. It will offer lower cost to the industry over time.
  • Dealers report, on average, that 50% of their installations include the ability for householders to access and control their systems through a smartphone, tablet or computer. There are big swings when viewing percentages by tier: 40% of dealers report that 70% or more of their installations include this capability, while 25% report that less than 10% of their customers receive this.
  • The top smart devices desired by dealers include smart door locks (77%), IP cameras (70%) and smart smoke detectors (60%). Since these smart devices are close adjacencies to the primary mission of security systems – safety and well-being – this early attachment is logical. However, security dealers must expand their categories of desired and offered smart devices over the next two years to compete effectively.
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