Global Smart Speaker Market in the Third Quarter of 2019

Recently, Canalys released the latest report, showing that the global smart speaker market in the third quarter of 2019 was increased by 44.9%. Thanks to various promotions of Amazon, with the shipment of 10.4 million units, it ranks first in the world.

Alibaba has regained the top spot in the Chinese market, ranking second in the world. Google has enhanced its position as the Nest brand. The company slipped from third place in the second quarter to fourth place.

Open retail channels that often offer promotions and discounts make it harder for smart speaker manufacturers to stimulate sales. Canalys senior analyst Jason Low said: “Amazon has launched the ‘Echo upgrade plan’ to attract users to redeem old Echo or non-Echo Bluetooth speakers to further increase the popularity of Echo devices in the home.”

“The challenging retail environment and drop in shipments are forcing Google to seek partnerships with more companies such as Spotify to drive sales through different channels. In China, we have seen similar trends in cooperation, and Alibaba uses its retail relationships and channel capabilities to run smart speaker collaborations with brands such as. Function and Starbucks, Budweiser, Abbott and Oreo among other local and international companies. This has largely increased the consumer appeal of Tmall Genie devices.”

In the third quarter of 2019, global smart display shipments increased by 500% to 6.3 million units, becoming an important category. “The Echo Show 5 smart display has contributed significantly to Amazon’s success in the third quarter, accounting for 16% of Amazon’s global shipments and becoming the best-selling smart display of all brands.” Canalys Research Cynthia Chen said, “Although smart displays are becoming more and more important in the vendor’s strategy, consumer price sensitivity and practical use cases are still key challenges that need to be addressed.”

“Low-cost equipment is an important driving force for the growth of smart displays. It is expected that the competition before the fourth quarter shopping season will be fierce. The key is to avoid the plight of sunk cost paradox, especially for Chinese manufacturers. Therefore, they must stop wasting money to achieve shipment targets, but instead focus on their overall business goals and generate revenue as soon as possible.”