Amazon Echo Share in the U.S. Will Drop Below Two-Thirds in 2019

The leading smart speaker continues to lose share to its smaller rivals. In eMarketer’s latest forecast, the Amazon Echo will drop below two-thirds of US smart speaker users for the first time. This year in the US, 74.2 million people will use a smart speaker, up 15.0% over 2018. By the end of 2019, more than one-quarter (26.8%) of US adults will use a smart speaker.

In 2019, the Amazon Echo will capture 63.3% of smart speaker users, while the Google Home will account for 31.0%.  Smaller players, such as the Sonos One and Apple HomePod, will take 12.0%. Amazon’s share will shrink through 2020, while those of its rivals will grow. Please note that there is overlap among the brands, as some people use more than one device.

“Consumers in the market for a smart speaker have more options than ever, and Amazon will lose some of its majority share as a result,“ said eMarketer forecasting analyst Jaimie Chung. “Google has the Home Mini and Home Hub to compete with Amazon’s Echo Dot and Echo Show, and both the Apple HomePod and Facebook Portal will experience their first holiday season this year. Amazon has remained relevant by plugging Alexa into premium speakers like the Sonos, but even Sonos plans to bring Google Assistant to its devices next year, keeping the two companies neck and neck in the voice assistant race.“

Only a small number of people are using speakers for shopping. Voice commerce in 2018 will reach $2.10 billion, just 0.4% of US ecommerce sales. In fact, eMarketer has lowered its projections for smart speaker buyers and shoppers since its Q2 forecast. While more than one-quarter of users (27.0%) will actually make a purchase using a smart speaker next year, it falls below the nearly 31% previously projected. Despite the growing capabilities of smart speakers, people still tend to use them for basic functions.

“We still don’t see a lot of people shopping and buying with smart speakers yet, but this may change if more lower-cost models begin to incorporate screens,“ said eMarketer principal analyst Victoria Petrock. “We’re also likely to see people doing more things with their voice assistants as they find their way into cars and other home-based devices.“