Home Depot Cites Wink as ‘Signature Platform’ in Low-Key Connected Home Rollout
Wink, which previewed its home control platform in New York last week (CED July 2 p1), began selling the devices in Home Depot stores and online Monday. In a news release, Home Depot said the Wink products were its “signature platform.”
The Home Depot website didn’t feature the Wink platform on its home page Monday, nor was there a “home control” category for such devices, leading us to wonder how consumers looking for control products for lighting and appliances online will find them at Homedepot.com if they're not looking for specific products. Home Depot Home Automation Merchandising Vice President Jeff Epstein told us customers who punch in “connected home” in the search box will be taken to a connected home section.
When we asked about the different terminology used for the connected home such as “home control,” “Internet of Things” or “home automation,” Epstein acknowledged the challenge of coming to market early in a category that’s just beginning to gel. “There are lots of opinions out there” about what the connected home means and “folks call it different things,” Epstein said. “It’s definitely one of the disadvantages of launching a new category.” In our search of the website, we found that the search terms “smart home,” “connected home” and “home automation” took us to the Wink page, while “Internet of Things” yielded no results and “home control” took us to bug spray. Home Depot’s connected home strategy is to make it “a little more easy around Wink as the platform” and to use connected home as the overarching concept, Epstein said.
Asked why the Home Depot home screen didn’t mention the Wink platform launch on Monday, Epstein said, “There’s definitely a schedule around the front page” but stores have the full day Monday to put in the endcap displays, and “it'll take them the whole day to do it.” He also said a low-profile launch gives the company a chance to “make sure they look great and they all work.” Home Depot will have a “splash around this” over the next few weeks, he said.
Wink-controllable products at Home Depot Monday included a Chamberlain garage-door opener ($228) and smartphone controller ($129), a Honeywell smart thermostat ($239), a Rachio irrigation controller ($249), a Philips Hue starter LED lighting kit ($199), a TCP starter lighting kit ($79), and a Wink Spotter sensor ($49). Products were organized according to those that require a hub for operation and those that can just be controlled by a smartphone, a delineation that’s likely to cause consumer confusion despite claims that Wink makes home control “easy."
Epstein reiterated Home Depot’s commitment to Wink, calling it “a long-term play.” Home Depot has a long-term plan to get the platform out but Monday was “the first step.” He said the $49 hub promotion runs through Labor Day and an “enormous” amount of pages went live this morning on the homedepot.com site.
Epstein said the company has “several tests in the works" on additional home platforms. He called the Wink platform the “definitely preferred, more holistic” platform “at this time,” while acknowledging that “new technologies and players will come into the marketplace.” Home Depot also sells smart home products from Insteon and Revolv.