As Connected Tech Grows, Consumers Look to Integrate Via Voice, Says NPD

With 30% of U.S. households using a smart speaker, consumers are gravitating toward an integrated ecosystem with a voice assistant at the core, reported NPD Thursday. Of those homes, the biggest increases in connected technology adoption are in home automation products and use cases (+152%), smartwatches (+120%), smart TVs (+60%), smart gaming consoles (+60%), streaming media players (+44%) and tablets (+26%), it said. “As consumers become more adept at integrating their devices to enable smart home technology, they are looking to make the use of that technology as easy as possible,” said analyst Eddie Hold. Loyalty to a vendor’s ecosystem plays a role in that, he said. “Once a consumer starts using their voice assistant consistently, they are becoming far more focused on making sure all of their devices work seamlessly with it,” he said.