HOMEOWNERS LOVE GADGETS | 2018 PREDICTIONS

A new State of the Smart Home Market 2017 report claims with competition growing in the expanding market consumer spending will hit $50 billion. Predictions include:

• Businesses will monetise data collected by smart home devices.
• The market will move away from the smartphone as the primary interface for the home.
• Consumer spending on smart home services will nearly triple on a global basis from $17 billion in 2016 to $50 billion in 2022.

New research shows that homeowners love to buy gadgets for their properties. Collectively they are referred to as Connected Home devices or Smart Home devices.

Gadgets, or smart devices, include appliances that connect to one another through the Internet, Bluetooth or Wi-Fi and which can be operated by a smartphone, tablet or computer.

Young buyers in particular are adopting new technologies. Across Europe and the States, retailers are preparing for an uptake in consumer spending in the lead up to Christmas. PR Newswire reports that “The market of the Connected Home will reach inflexion point by the end of 2016 in the USA and Europe, with consumer spending hitting €90.90 billion globally by 2018”.

While homeowners may well be investing in new technologies and adopting the concept of a Smart Home, many are unaware of the added risk that this imposes on their property.

Winter often brings a surge of burglaries as longer nights provide better cover for opportunist thieves. Having Christmas soon upon us also means that there are more valuables in the home, and that properties can be left unoccupied for days at a time.

It’s important to be aware of the implications of having so many smart devices within the home. In most cases insurance providers are unable to cover a policy if high value or high risk items like electronic gadgets have not been declared. So when you make a purchase, remember to add new devices to your home insurance policy as a specified item.

Find out more about the type of cover available from Homeprotect for high theft areas and for insuring electronic gadgets. Or if you’re an existing Homeprotect customer and are unsure about the contents already covered in your policy, revisit your policy booklet.