• by Chuck Martin , August 15, 2018

Voice-activated speakers are projected to grow 50% by U.S. dollar growth over the course of the next year, according to a forecast by The NPD Group.

Demand for voice control in streaming speakers is forecast to grow revenue to about $2.7 billion by 2019.

Sales of home automation devices are projected to add $1.7 billion to the technology industry by 2019, with 19% of consumers planning to purchase a device within the next 12 months. To support the growth in home automation devices, U.S. consumers are expected to upgrade mesh Wi-Fi networks, driving sales of those networks up 88%, with about half of every dollar spent in the consumer networking category on mesh Wi-Fi.

“While many new households will explore the smart home experience in the next two years, propelled by the growing ownership of voice-activated speakers, the biggest and best opportunity for retail may remain in encouraging the installed smart home base to make incremental device purchases, and to then provide services to help consumers fully leverage the technology in their smart home,” stated Stephen Baker, vice president, industry advisor for The NPD Group. “For example, upgrades in networking equipment are a crucial incremental sales opportunity. As the number of connected devices on the home network increase, consumers will come to the realization that they need better equipment to support those devices.”