Smart home of the future:
Emerging trends and opportunities2 Smart home of the futureContents
Foreword Smart home
development
trends
P5 P6
Insights on
the residential
demand side
P9
Principles for Smart homeCase study
offering value
experientialpropositions
design
P17P22P28
Conclusion
P30
3 Smart home of the futureContents
05 Foreword
06 Smart home development trends
071. Demand side: Common asks of mankind
072. Industry side: Integrated and interactive solutions
083. Competition side: A lever for transformation
09 Insights on the residential demand side
111. Well-defined space function
122. Life stage companion
133. Child-friendly
144. Innovative experience
155. Natural experience
166. From product to service
17 Principles for offering experiential design
191. “User-driven”
192. “Exclusive”
203. “Trustworthy”
204. “Novel”
215. “Connected”
22 Smart home value propositions
231. Product value propositions
252. Addressing the hierarchy of needs
263. Delivering values to consumers
274. Value delivery channels
28 Case study
291. Security system: tech-enabled security to boost confidence
292. Air and water system: Personalised environment for optimised comfort
293. Lighting system: Creating comfort and enhancing sense of novelty for residents
30 Conclusion
4Smart Residence of the Future: Emerging trends and opportunitiesForeword
Our living space is undergoing a major transformation empowered
by smart technologies. Meeting rising consumer expectations in
modern living has never been more important to industry players
who now face unprecedented opportunities brought by the growth
of smart home. Beyond residents’ basic demand for functionality,
the rapid advancement of technology ushers in a more efficient
way of human-oriented interaction to better meet emotional
demands of home occupants. As such, the definition of “living
space” goes far beyond a combination of physical architecture and
interior decorations. The capabilities of smart home systems to
sense and respond to the needs of occupants have enabled them
to break the limitation of physical space, explore more possibilities
in alignment with their own preferences, needs and behaviour.
The pandemic has posed significant impacts on our lifestyle: we
spend less time out and about, and more time at home due to lock-
down or quarantine measures. Home-bound life has taken centre
stage, along with increasing demand for remote working, which
puts higher requirement on household functions. People’s
perceptions towards and requirements for living space have
become more elements to value family and life experience,
becoming increasingly complex and differentiated.
The real estate sector in China is saturated. The annualised
growth rate of residential property sales measured by area
dropped from 12% between 2014 and 2017 to 1% between 2017
and 2020, according to National Bureau of Statistics. The
traditional supply-driven market will evolve to exhibit more
demand-driven characteristics, urging real estate companies to
compete on the basis of holistic “living” experience and quality.
To address the ever-increasing demands of smart home and the
challenges of real estate industry slowdown, smart home, as an
inevitable trend, is a key lever to meet people’s personalised
needs. The development of smart home is still at its infancy in
China, but some of the leading real estate companies have already
embarked on an explorative journey to turn concepts into reality -
by experimenting with new ways to meet customer’s demand with
the next-generation smart home offerings.
Smart home of the future 5