Google Home is catching up with Amazon Echo w/ 31% marketshare and huge holiday sales

Google Home, and Assistant speakers in general, have only been on the scene a fraction of the time that the Amazon Echo family has. However, Google’s devices are starting to pick up steam, and they’ve really made themselves known in the market…

The market for home automation devices like Google Home and Amazon Echo has grown significantly since these devices originally hit the scene. In fact, a report by CIRP shows that the market grew by 18 million units in Q4 of 2017 to bring the total to nearly 45 million units in the US alone.

Of that total, Amazon has a commanding hold over the market with 69% market share — about 31 million units. Google Home, on the other hand, takes 31% of the market with around 14 million units sold. It’s unclear if this total accounts for third-party Assistant speakers as well.

While 31% might not seem impressive, it’s important to look back in time to see how those numbers compare. Just going back to June of 2017, we see just 20 million smart speakers sold in total, with Google barely making a stake. A big reason why Google Home is catching up to Amazon in this market is thanks to this past holiday season where Google took 40% of sales.

In that same time period, 40% of Google’s sales were thanks to the new Home Mini, easily attributed to the discounted price.

The Echo Dot continues to account for over half of all Echo units sold, and increased that share by a couple of percentage points in the holiday quarter. Google introduced its Home Mini toward the start of the holiday shopping quarter, and it grabbed over 40% of Google Home sales in the quarter.

CIRP’s report also brings out some interesting other statistics, such as consumers who own more than one unit of these speakers. In Amazon’s ecosystem, 20% report owning multiple units, where 13% of Google Home owners report the same.

Another interesting stat is in regards to connected accessories. Apparently, nearly 60% of Google Home or Amazon Echo owners have at least one other smart accessory, such as connected lighting, thermostats, security systems, and more.

It’s encouraging to see how quickly smart speakers are taking off, and especially so with Google’s growth. Of course, there’s still a lot of room to grow as well, and it will be interesting to see how Microsoft’s Cortana speakers and Apple’s HomePod shift the balance.

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