For the first time, three of Europe’s leading Smart Home Associations have come together under the common banner of the Smart Home Research Group, formed by the UK’s Smart Home & Buildings Association (“SH&BA”), France’s Fédération Française de Domotique (“FFD”) and Germany’s Smart Home Initiative Deutschland (“SHID”).
At the inaugural conference hosted by CONTEXT, Europe’s leading IT market research company, in Paris, the group’s aim is to promote research that will help vendors and retailers track the embryonic Smart Homes market.
“We are looking at ways to create an exchange between leading industry players, define the market and successful market offerings, remove barriers to growth, identify different channels to market and educate the consumer” says the Research Group’s Chair Adam Simon from CONTEXT.
“Our focus will be on publishing a Smart Home barometer”, continued Simon. “With the input and experience of the Smart Home Associations, as well as leading industry players - retailer Euronics, DLink and Deutsche Telekom – we seek to bring clarity to this emerging market. The sale of smart home products is struggling, according to initial figures from the CONTEXT database, and we will work with the industry to create the conditions for a breakthrough”.
“We discovered that we all share one perspective in our respective countries”, said smart home expert Stephen Pattenden, secretary of the SH&BA. “Smart home technology has been with us for the last 15 years but we still need to make vast progress to communicate the benefits and opportunities of smart home in order to achieve a consumer breakthrough”.
The sure way forward for retailers is to build credibility with consumers. “We have to earn the right to be the trusted advisor for consumers when navigating the complex choices in today’s smart home market” says Joey Tang, head of new business development at Euronics.
“When new technology categories emerge it is our duty” says industry veteran Howard Davies, CEO and co-founder of CONTEXT, “to clarify the market, sharpen the definitions, identify the winners and bring clarity. We are going to shine a light on smart home.”
