Alexa, are Echo devices going mainstream? Yes.
According to the latest data from Slice Intelligence, the demographics of Echo device owners are evolving, as women add Amazon's smart speaker to their households in increasing numbers. This trend culminated in December, when 50 percent of Echo revenue came from women, compared to only 23 percent at launch.
Gen X and boomers love the Echo
Online sales of smart speakers are being driven heavily by Generation X and Baby Boomers. Over one third of Echo revenue has come from members of Generation X in the past two years. Similarly, Baby Boomers made up 31 percent of all Echo purchases since January 2015, another signal of a wave of mainstream adoption.
"It is clear that the Amazon Echo has broken into the mainstream," said Ken Cassar, principal analyst, Slice Intelligence. "The mass adoption of Alexa's important technologies-- the voice user interface--may lead to the decline of the keyboard. More importantly, the Echo is likely the first manifestation of the Internet of Things in many homes, and given its ease of use and low price point, it could establish itself as the hub of the smart home."
Holiday Echo buyers are lighter online shoppers
When the Echo first launched, 40 percent of new Echo purchasers were heavy online shoppers, spending more than five thousand dollars annually online. By the holiday season in 2016, however, heavy online shoppers accounted for only 28 percent of first-time Echo buyers.
Alexa was in a lot of homes for the holidays
It was a strong holiday season for Echo devices, as 45 percent of all online Echo purchases to date were made in November and December 2016. Cyber Weekend sales were especially significant, with Cyber Monday being the largest single day of Echo sales. Price drops in early November and mid December also helped keep the device's sales strong through the entire period.
The Dot is the most preferred
The entry-level Echo device, the Dot was the most popular model this holiday season. Online Dot sales accounted for 57 percent of all Alexa-powered devices while the original accounted for 38 percent.
About this data
With a panel of over 4.4 million online shoppers, Slice Intelligence gives the most detailed, and accurate digital commerce data available, and is reported daily.
Slice Intelligence is the only service to measure digital commerce directly from the consumer, across all retailers, at the item level, and over time. Our retailer-independent methodology precisely measures commerce as it happens. By extracting detailed information from hundreds of millions of aggregated and anonymized e-receipts, Slice can map the entire Purchase Graph, connecting each and every consumer to all their purchases.
Slice gets its data from e-receipts – not a browser, app or software installed by the end-user – so its measurement reflects comprehensive shopping behavior across multiple devices, over time which are key in an increasingly omnichannel retail world. Slice Intelligence is the exclusive e-commerce data provider for the NPD’s Checkout Tracking e-commerce service.
