Smart Speaker Adoption in Canada Surges to 8%, Google Home Has Double The Market Share of Amazon Echo

Edison Research and Triton have released a report showing that 8% of Canadians 18 and older have access to a smart speaker. That is a rapid rise considering no smart speakers were available in the country during the first half of the year. Edison data show that U.S. smart speaker adoption was 7% in 2017 after the devices had been available for three years. The fact that Canada leapt to surpass that figure in less than one year indicates how popular smart speakers are now that consumers around the globe are becoming aware of the product category.

Google Home Commands Double the Market Share of Amazon Echo

The faster rate of smart speaker adoption in Canada is likely influenced by awareness of the products’ availability in the U.S. It may also be driven by the presence of two devices in the market. Google Home debuted in Canada in June 2017 followed by Amazon Echo in November. The easy headline is that Google Home commands roughly double Amazon Echo market share in Canada today.

Edison found that 63% of Canadian smart speaker owners had just a Google Home device, 30% just an Amazon Echo device and 7% had both. That translates into 70% of Canadian smart speaker owners using a Google Home and 37% an Echo. Voicebot readers may notice that this market share breakout is the inverse of what you find in the U.S. where Amazon Echo holds a significant lead. Voicebot’s Smart Speaker Consumer Adoption Report 2018 found that 72% of U.S. smart speaker owners had an Echo and only 18.4% chose Google Home. Why the difference? Market entry date may be the culprit. Google Home was first to market in Canada and had nearly 5 months of selling time before Amazon Echo was released.

Amazon Made Substantial Market Share Inroads in Just 2.5 Months

One way to look at the data is that Google quickly established dominant market share in the country after seven months. Another interpretation is that Amazon Echo was late to market but still grabbed over one-third of Canadian smart speaker buyers in about two-and-a-half months. Consumer awareness of the devices suggests Canada will be a very competitive market and seems likely that Amazon Echo market share will rise.

In the U.S., Amazon Echo has a significant edge in consumer awareness over Google Home by a factor of 70% to 56%. By contrast, in Canada Google Home leads Amazon Echo in awareness by only eight percentage points, 54% to 46%. Given Amazon’s promotion expertise and ecommerce channel, rising awareness is likely to lead to rising sales of Echo devices.

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