Hey Google, selling Home Mini alongside Nest Mini is extremely confusing

Ben Schoon | Nov 7 2019 - 10:24 am PT

The Google Home Mini was an insanely popular smart speaker that basically cemented Google Assistant’s place in the market. However, it now has a successor in the much better Nest Mini, making it a bit ridiculous that the two are still sold together.

It was only about a month ago that the Nest Mini was first announced, but it was clear from day one that it is a much better product than the Home Mini was. It has a louder, better speaker, a built-in wall mount, and it even uses recycled materials too. Also, it does all of that for the same $49 price tag.

However, nearly a month after it went up for pre-order, Google is still selling the two products side-by-side in most retail outlets. In the Google Store, this is especially confusing. There, the products are sold under the same category and there’s no mention of the Nest Mini on the Home Mini’s listing. Plus, they have the same price too.

The problem with this is that consumers who simply click a link or find an old ad might end up paying $50 for the Home Mini when they could buy the Nest Mini instead. It’s just misleading.

No one should buy a Google Home Mini for $50 today

At retailers, the story is a bit different. Walmart and Best Buy both have the Google Home Mini discounted, bringing the price down to $39 and it will likely be even cheaper around the holidays. In the right setting, selling the two side-by-side makes sense in retail, but an example from our own Kyle Bradshaw saw the Home Mini being sold next to a prominent Nest Mini display at a Best Buy location.

Right now, having both of these products on sale at the same time for the same MSRP is confusing and will lead to a lot of customers buying the inferior product. Come on Google, don’t be evil about this.

I also love David Imel’s suggestion on what Google should do with the leftover Home Mini units.

They should uh, take those off their store. And just chuck one free in every purchase for the rest of forever

— David ImeI (@DurvidImel) November 7, 2019

There’s one good reason to keep the Home Mini around internationally, though. The Home Mini is sold in more countries than the Nest Mini. It makes no sense to ditch the older product until the newer one is available there, but in countries where the Nest Mini is already available, it’s a lot harder to sell the latter without confusing customers.

I’m betting another reason the Home Mini is still sold in the Google Store alongside the Nest Mini is the company’s Spotify partnership since it requires the device to be purchased through the Store. Even with that in mind, Google either needs to add a message to the Home Mini’s listing or at least drop its cost.