CTA Forecasts 42% Drop in Smart Speaker Sales in Q4; Tech Sales to Slip 0.4%
Tech spending for the 2019 Q4 holiday season is projected to slip 0.4 percent to $97.1 billion, CTA forecast Thursday, saying 186 million U.S. adults (74 percent) plan to buy a tech gift. The smart speaker category is expected to…
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plummet 42 percent from 2018 to 11.3 million units, CTA said, citing more devices such as TVs integrating voice assistants. Streaming service subscriptions and videogames will be popular tech gifts, it said, with 71 percent of U.S. adults planning to buy a content-related gift this year, including videogame discs (43 percent) and streaming services (39 percent). New video streaming services, more 4K Ultra HD content and larger screens on TVs and smartphones are driving interest in entertainment as gifts, with laptops, smartphones, TVs, tablets and wearables expected to be leading category sellers, said Lesley Rohrbaugh, market research director. Some 59 percent of U.S. adults plan to buy a smart home product such as a smart doorbell, camera or lightbulb as a gift, and 38 percent of U.S. adults plan to buy a smart speaker. Forty-three percent of U.S. adults plan to buy a wearable: CTA expects more than 9 million smartwatches to sell this season, up 2 percent from 2018. Wireless earbuds are forecast to jump 45 percent year over year to 8 million units; of U.S. adults planning to buy headphones as a gift, most plan to buy wireless earbuds. Half of U.S. adults plan to buy videogame products (33 percent) and accessories this season. Some 87 percent of U.S. adult consumers plan to shop at brick-and-mortar stores for tech in the 2019 holiday season; 80 percent online, both up over 2018, CTA said. Among online shoppers, 65 percent plan to use a mobile device; 33 percent plan to shop using a voice assistant, it said.