Appetite growing for tech-enabled devices to build smart homes

The hot and prolonged summer this year augured well for consumer durables manufacturers, especially those selling air conditioners. Japanese company Panasonic, for instance, has sold more than 500,000 air conditioners so far this year, which isn’t surprising. What is notable, however, is that 50% of the ACs sold were wi-fi enabled smart devices that could be controlled via a mobile app.
In 2020, when Panasonic launched its IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence)-enabled platform, it kicked off with three smart products – air conditioners, doorbells and plugs and switches. Today the company offers smart products in 18-20 categories including washing machines, water heaters, refrigerators, lights and bulbs. Manish Misra, chief technology officer, Panasonic India Innovation Center, said tech-savvy consumers had pushed the company to make horizontal and vertical expansion into smart devices.
Last month they introduced new models in their video door phones, some of which offer remote access through a mobile app allowing homeowners to monitor and interact with their video door phone and integrated lock from anywhere.
A new report by Redseer Strategy Consultants expects India’s smart home market to be primarily driven by three categories — security (cameras, doorbells, locks), lighting and control (lights, switches, plugs), and small appliances (air purifiers, vacuum cleaners etc). The smart segment in these categories will grow from ₹8,000 crore in 2023 to ₹36,000 crore by 2028, it said.
The report focused on these as smart TVs and other large appliances have well penetrated already, said Amitabh Kumar, engagement manager at Redseer. Just on e-commerce marketplace Amazon the security category business has tripled from ₹200 crore pre-covid to ₹600 crore, said Redseer’s senior consultant Ashish Washington. There’s a demand-pull from the consumers and supply-push from the companies with new age firms from unrelated categories entering the business. “Urban Company, for instance, has ventured into water purifiers and digital locks,” Washington said.
Smart home devices are remotely controlled electronic gadgets connected to the internet, managed through a smartphone app or a voice command. Panasonic’s Misra said simply having a voice assistant doesn’t make a home smart. “Your lights, music, curtains and other gadgets must work in tandem through a mobile application and create a unique experience,” he said.
Misra said users of their smart ACs, for instance, can customize their own sleep profile through an app and set the temperature to varying degrees through the night without having to wake up and change it when they feel cold.
Redseer report said that home devices are moving from being conventional to connected, from basic, high-energy consuming gadgets to sophisticated, connected systems that can be controlled from our phones.
Rising internet penetration, pegged at 55% of the population, has been a key enabler of this change, fueled by increased affordability of such devices and evolving consumer needs. This will further drive penetration of smart devices from 8-10% in 2023 to 25-28% by 2028, Redseer forecasted.
The evolution of consumer needs and social change was something which prompted Ravi Saxena, CEO and co-founder of kitchen appliances company WonderChef, to launch Chef Magic — a robot that automates the cooking process and integrates multiple functions into one smart device.
Launched three months ago, Chef Magic is an IoT product with a smart screen and 250 pre-loaded recipes. “It syncs with your mobile phone which allows you to monitor it remotely. Since it is wi-fi enabled, whenever it is connected, it can download the new recipes which we send every week,” Saxena said.
However, the current challenge with smart devices is that consumers buy different products from different brands and use multiple applications to control them. “So, the experience is not seamless,” Misra said, emphasizing the need for inter-operable platforms for compatibility.
Redseer’s Kumar said after-sales service and support for such devices is also an issue for consumers even as they grapple with privacy concerns. “High cost is still a challenge for the majority. Not just that, the 55% internet penetration we talk of has an uneven distribution and power outages are still a reality,” he said.
Despite the challenges, Saxena said there is scope for smart products though not everything needs to be an IoT device. “Also, consumers don’t ask for technology, they ask for solutions,” he said.