All's Quiet on Smart Home Front on Big-Box Retailer Q1 Earnings Calls

The smart home category was a no-show on all three quarterly earnings webcasts given last week by major big box retailers that have dedicated resources to the fledgling category. Home Depot launched products under Quirky’s Wink platform last July (see 1407020036) but only reported about higher light bulb sales in Q1 without breaking out smart LED bulbs' share of the mix. Staples’ executives lamented the performance of the company's tech segment -- “the big drag for the quarter” -- said Demos Parneros, president-North American Stores & Online. CEO Ronald Sargent said tech makes up 30 percent of the retail sales mix but lagging laptop and tablet sales drove the "entire 5 percent same-store sales decline" in North America in Q1. Staples executives didn't mention the smart home business. On its earnings webcast, Lowe’s didn’t comment on the Iris smart home platform it launched in July 2012. A spokeswoman told us Lowe’s “remains committed to building the Iris ecosystem and investing in the program” after Kevin Meagher, the public face of Iris, left. Mick Koster replaced Meagher last week as vice president-general manager of the Iris smart home division. At a Parks’ Associates Smart Energy Summit in 2013 (see 1303040069), Meagher asked the industry for help in building the nascent category. Lowe’s “can’t do it all ourselves,” he said. At the time, Lowe’s was in a trial partnership with Verizon stores for Iris and was seeking additional relationships with telcos, service providers, builders and utilities. To hit the mass consumer with the Iris ecosystem, vendors needed to go through retail, Meagher said. Lowe’s published a 60-page document for its vendors outlining the rules they need to follow to be part of Lowe’s Iris connected platform and ensure that a product would work with other devices in Iris ecosystem. The biggest hurdle Meagher cited then -- consumer awareness -- remains one of the biggest hurdles today for smart home adoption.