Smart Home Germany, Quo Vadis? – A Strategic Analysis for Proper Use Cases Across Industries

Smart Home (SH), essentially meaning efficient housekeeping with the help of digital devices that are able to learn, is on its way into Germany's households. As one of the world's markets with the biggest economic potential for SH, this research outlines that consumers as well as companies are ready to engage. Analysing various aspects of SH, from obstacles to overcome in the consumers' minds to potential business models for companies engaging in SH, a future scenario has been created by using the Delphi method: Upper management experts from marketing, telecommunications, retail man-agement, logistics and supply chain management plus the automotive industry in Germany have contributed to creating the scenario and agreed to the final version. The scenario shows that in the long run, perceived obstacles like data privacy or interconnectivity will probably be solved and successfully overcome. It also outlines the prerequisites for a success of SH. Furthermore this research identifies two core roles that can be occupied by companies: the one of owning the platforms and networks and the one of participating by connecting products and services to these platforms and networks. In the end, it will be the software companies and own-ers of the platforms and networks generating the most sustainable profits while manufacturers of hardware will face eroding margins and interchangeability because of high competition. SH will also spawn positive spillover effects on many other industries: they will be the biggest accumu-lated group of beneficiaries. Those very often traditional industries will engage in SH once it proves to be an efficient business case for them.