Although it is generally believed that smart home is a blue ocean market, many companies have tried various tricks and spent a lot of money, but the door still stands still. As the most important market economy for household consumption in the next ten years, the ecological industry chain of smart home includes technology providers such as smart home appliances, communications, voice interaction technology, fingerprint recognition technology, and various new and unique smart hardware manufacturers; E-commerce crowdfunding platform, offline distribution channels.
The Smart Lock Market Will Grow Substantially in The Next Few Years
In 2023, the smart lock market will break through US$2.4 billion. The addition of Amazon and Google will change the market territory. The latest report points out that, as an important part of smart home access control, the smart lock market will have a substantial presence in the next few years. With the entry of Amazon and Google into the smart lock market, as well as changes in consumer demand in Europe and Asia, the existing market landscape may change in the long run.
According to the latest "Smart Home Access Control: Forecast, Industry and Products" report released by the market research agency Stategy Analytics, it is expected that by 2023, the global sales of smart locks will reach 26 million, pushing the market size to 2.4 billion US dollars.
It is expected that the smart lock market will still be dominated by a few suppliers in the next few years, and three suppliers, Kwikset, Schlage and Yale, will control more than 75% of the market. However, after Amazon and Google enter the smart lock market in the future, they will inevitably threaten the market position of existing suppliers.
Bill Ablondi, director of Strategy Analytics' smart home strategy research service, said that as consumers increase their adoption of smart home technology, smart locks will become one of the most important devices. But the successful strategies of incumbent suppliers also provide a template for Amazon and Google to develop their own products. Although both smart lock companies and platform suppliers are currently cooperating with Amazon or Google, it is believed that they will become market competitors in the near future.
In addition, as the purchase of smart door locks and garage door locks gradually spreads from initial consumers to the mass market, incumbents must also adapt to the changing dynamics of the field. The report pointed out that the annual sales volume of smart door locks from 2014 to 2023 will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19%, but even if the overall shipment continues to rise, suppliers and partners still need to evaluate how to solve the problem in the United States. barriers to foreign markets.
While the high proportion of single-parent households and high interest in smart home automation or security services have given the U.S. the lead in the smart lock market, consumers in other regions may have different priorities for smart home needs. Jack Narcotta, an industry analyst for Strategy Analytics' smart home strategy research service, said that the Western European and Asian markets are serious challenges for those large smart lock suppliers; in Western European countries, temperature control is much more important to consumers, smart locks Often not included in the smart home service options; in South Korea, smart home solutions installed in condominiums by including SK Telecom, Korea Telecom or LG U-Plus are basically installed with commercial-grade electronic lock systems. The demand for locks is not high; although the mainland has a huge demand for smart locks and is also the fastest growing smart home device market, it is mainly dominated by local brands such as Alibaba. Not easy for outsiders.
The Outbreak of The Home Smart Lock Industry Still Needs to Overcome Difficulties
So far, there has not been a unicorn company in the smart home market, and investors have high hopes for whether smart locks can change the situation of smart home false fire. The smart lock, a smart hardware, still has huge challenges in product technology, supply chain, channel sales, after-sales service, etc. Whether it can reach thousands of households in the end still needs to overcome the three major difficulties of quality control, access and service.
Quality Control
The production process and technology of smart locks are more complex than ordinary mechanical locks. Factors such as lock factories, cloud service providers, fingerprint algorithm technology, APP program development, communication agreements, batteries, etc. in the industrial chain will all affect to the performance quality of smart locks. At present, there are some small factories in the market that buy modules and assemble them in a hurry to start production lines.
In fact, as a product of opto-mechatronics, smart locks require more than three years of manufacturing experience to ensure the stability and precision of molds and accessories; only by achieving mass production can the marginal cost of smart locks be reduced. At present, the price of smart locks remains high. Smart locks have extremely high requirements on the accuracy of fingerprint algorithms. While achieving high-precision algorithms, improving the unlocking speed is the key to fingerprint unlocking.
Since the preservation, identification and update of fingerprints all rely on "cloud services", the "cloud" terminal has become the hub for smart locks to realize smart functions such as remote unlocking, false lock alarm, message push, and message record query. choice is also very important.
Channels
At present, most smart locks choose the form of crowdfunding or direct sales in online malls. This pure e-commerce model ignores the value of traditional channels. In order to achieve the rapid popularization of smart locks in a short period of time, we should vigorously integrate the mature offline dealer pipeline resources.
In the early stage of market development, most consumers are still unfamiliar with smart locks. Installing smart locks is a rational decision for families. Blindly online promotion and hard advertising may not be effective. It is more practical for smart locks to open directly-operated experience stores, or to cooperate with channels such as home building materials, hardware stores, and store display stores. It is more practical to drive sales with on-site experience.
Services
In different geographical environments, smart locks will have different standards for fire protection, cold protection, rain protection, etc. The conditions for smart locks to be installed in a house are different, such as different thicknesses of anti-theft doors, different matching requirements, installation or maintenance of smart locks requires professional after-sales personnel to provide door-to-door service.
Since the popularity of smart locks is the general trend, some new smart lock brands have emerged in the market. Regardless of the mass production capacity, huge capital investment is required in the implementation of services. In this regard, the lock industry companies that started from traditional enterprises have shown comparative advantages. The O2O model of offline and online two-wheel drive is more suitable for the sales and service of smart locks.
In the long run, the trump card of competition in the smart lock market will depend on the quality of the product supply chain and the offline service system. The stronger the foundation, the better the brand premium and the trust of home users; and then extended to other smart home areas, it has stronger potential energy. Whether smart locks can become a breakthrough for smart homes and take on the important task of opening up the home Internet of Things remains to be tested by the market.
