Providing market intelligence for more than 35 years

In The News

A new vacuum can alert you to incoming text messages. Why?

"The appliance category becoming connected does add a lot of opportunities to provide new information to a consumer," says Elizabeth Parks, the president and chief marketing officer at Parks Associates, which does market research on consumer tech and works with some manufacturers.

"How much energy is being used? Does that tie to any bills? Are there any alerts about the performance of the appliance? You know, especially that energy efficiency part can translate to dollars saved," she says.

"It creates a service model, right? You sell the large appliance, the refrigerator or the washer dryer, and then maybe you sell the maintenance that goes with it," Parks says.

Cost is one factor holding many people back from buying the premium AI appliances, as well as a perception that there isn't an added value in the smart features and security and privacy concerns, according to Parks Associates survey data.

From the article, "A new vacuum can alert you to incoming text messages. Why?" by James Doubek

Previously In The News

VR Primed For US Take-Off As 2.3MN Homes Own Headset

Parks believes that as more households adopt VR devices, and become part of the consumer-based Internet of things (IoT), they will emerge as a new way to experience content streams coming into the hom...

Apple Mulls Time Warner Takeover; And Possibly Netflix

Parks Associates recently found that Amazon has moved into a virtual tie with Google at 22% of sales for streaming media players (Roku claims the top spot). Apple TV comes in at fourth place with 20%...

On-Demand Tech Support Companies HelloTech, Geekatoo Merge

Geekatoo Executive Chairman Christian Shelton saw demand for tech services rising as more people add internet-connected devices - such as the smart thermostat Nest or WiFi camera Dropcam - to their ho...

Privacy And Security Come To The Fore For Connected Devices

Parks Associates research shows that almost half (47%) of US broadband households are concerned their private information stored on connected devices could be made public, and 47% of US broadband hous...