Smart Home Acquisitions Could Propel Lock, Garage-Door Advances: Parks

Recent acquisitions in the smart home industry could have significant long-term repercussions, blogged Parks Associates President Elizabeth Parks Tuesday. Swiss access solutions company Assa Abloy said last week it agreed to buy Spectrum Brands’ home and hardware improvement business for $4.3 billion, leaving Spectrum to focus on home and personal care brands Black & Decker, George Foreman and others. Assa Abloy can leverage complementary Spectrum brands -- Kwikset, Baldwin, Weiser, Pfister and National Hardware -- to strengthen its North American position, Parks said. Some 13 million-15 million exterior door locks are sold to U.S. broadband households each year, 15% of them smart locks, she said. Last year, 8% of households reported owning at least one smart lock. The integration of video cameras with smart door locks will become more common in the future, as consumers can buy a single device to achieve dual functionality. Last week, Blackstone’s Private Equity Funds agreed to buy the Chamberlain garage door business from The Duchossois Group for a reported $5 billion, Parks noted, allowing for “scale and innovation in the business.” She noted Amazon was the first to introduce in-home delivery service with Key by Amazon in 2017, with Chamberlain as one of the first partners. Parks research shows 12% of households report using a service that delivers packages inside the home. With 37% of access device owners showing high interest in the service, Parks pegs the total addressable market size for in-home delivery services in the U.S. at $536 million. It forecasts the smart garage door category will grow from a current $701 million to $777 million by 2025, while seeing increased integration with other core smart home applications -- and vehicles. Smart garage door adoption is currently at 9% of households.