Twenty-four percent of consumers surveyed by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) said they will buy smart home products during this year’s holiday season.

Twenty-four percent of the consumers who responded to the association’s holiday shopping survey, the “23rd Annual Consumer Technology Holiday Purchase Patterns Study,” said they plan to buy a smart home product during the upcoming season. In last year’s survey, 15 percent of the participants said they intended to buy a smart home product.

Overall, 170 million consumers are planning on a technology product purchase during the upcoming season, up 6 percent from last year. Spending on technology gifts will increase 3.1 percent to about $36.1 billion. CTA also projected a 3.8 percent rise in overall retail sales in November to December (excluding gasoline and restaurant sales), to $824.8 billion.

“The 2016 holiday season looks to be the biggest on record for the tech sector, thanks to fresh and innovative products on the market such as wearable tech, virtual reality headsets, drones and digital assistant devices,” said Shawn DuBravac, CTA’s chief economist. “Our research also finds that most Americans are now using tech devices to help them research and buy those tech gifts.”

The study also found that 57 percent of consumers are likely to shop for tech products online this year, up two percentage points from last year. Physical stores likely will remain the main source of tech gift purchases, with 74 percent of consumers likely to purchase from a brick-and-mortar location—down three percentage points from last year.

(Source: hfndigital.com  Author: David Gill)