IoT Creates Massive Opportunities for Entrepreneurs

One of the most exciting opportunities for entrepreneurs right now is the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things (IoT) is currently growing at an accelerated rate creating incredible options for savvy businesses and business people.

With rapid expansion into American homes, we now find that most consumers have at least an interest in purchasing and using smart home devices. In a recent study conducted by Magid, it was found that currently, 51% of U.S. consumers are interested in purchasing and using smart home devices. 20% of those surveyed indicated that they were very interested.

The response was so favorable, in fact, that only 15% of those surveyed indicated that they were not interested at all and 29% expressed feeling neutral about using smart devices.

Smart devices appear to have fully entered the mainstream as it is hard to actually find consumers that are not aware of smart devices.  A full 84% of online consumers have now heard of smart devices. Examples of these devices include smart speakers such as the Amazon Alexa device and Google Home. When it comes to smart speakers themselves, familiarity is even higher, with 94% of people familiar with Amazon Alexa and Echo devices.

Currently, almost one-third of Americans own and use a smart device regularly.  This is exciting news for businesses that have already entered the IoT market.  For example, 24% of consumers say they would like to purchase a Nest thermostat and 26% say they would like to buy an Amazon Echo.

There are still a few consumers that are not interested in smart devices and their reasons for not being interested varied. Some felt the devices would be more expensive and others were concerned about privacy. But regardless of these concerns, the sale of smart devices is growing rapidly.

One of the reasons why sales are growing so rapidly is that owners of device tend to be very happy with their purchases.  For example, Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant each have a user satisfaction rating of 85% and Siri follows closely behind at 78%. With consumers this happy with their devices it is no surprise that sales are growing rapidly. Word of mouth is bound to fuel sales with satisfaction numbers this high.

When it comes to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, the majority of those that responded indicated that they were very satisfied with their devices (52%). Very satisfied consumers tend to share their experiences with friends and family members.

It probably doesn’t surprise you that virtual assistants are used to perform a wide variety of tasks. The most common is finding information on the internet (51%) but they are also commonly used to listen to music or check the weather.

If you have an entrepreneurial spirit or are looking for a way to kickstart your business, look and see if you can leverage the incredible opportunities that now exist within the Internet of Things. Who knows, you might be the person that comes up with the next Nest thermostat or Amazon Alexa.

Image:  Scott Cawley (Flikr) http://bit.ly/2zcsMoD