MOORESVILLE, N.C., Aug. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- A new smart home study released today by Lowe's found that while Rosie the Robot is the futuristic feature consumers would want most from "The Jetsons," more than 70 percent of smart phone users in America just wish they could control something in their home from their mobile device without getting out of bed. Lowe's 2014 Smart Home Survey examined Americans' attitudes and experiences with home automation, with a particular look at the most important features and top reasons for owning smart home products.

The data reveals that a majority of Americans are generally favorable to smart homes, with 50 percent preferring do-it-yourself solutions, and nearly two-thirds (62 percent) find the smart home most beneficial for monitoring safety and security.

The Smart Home Survey, conducted online in July by Harris Poll on behalf of Lowe's, polled more than 2,000 U.S. adults aged 18+ and finds that 52 percent of Americans feel that having a smart home is at least somewhat important to them. When it comes to purchasing consideration, more than half (56 percent) of Americans cite either cost or fees as the most important deciding factor (31 percent say monthly fee amount and 26 percent say the cost of equipment), followed by ease of use (13 percent) and security (11 percent).

"In general, Americans feel positively toward products that will make their homes safer, more energy efficient and easier to manage. It is added evidence that the smart home and Internet of Things are here to stay," said Kevin Meagher, Lowe's vice president and general manager, Smart Home. "People want DIY solutions that are simple and affordable, and that's exactly what we provide with Iris. Lowe's makes the home smarter by offering an easy, single user interface where consumers can control everything in and around their home with the brands they already know and trust."

Additional key findings:

It's all about the Benjamins!

• In addition to citing overall cost as the most important factor in the purchasing decision of smart home products, Americans are more than twice as likely to prefer a DIY solution without a monthly fee over a professional installed/monitored system with a monthly service fee (50 percent vs. 21 percent).
• 40 percent say a benefit of owning a smart home would be to cut costs and save money on energy bills.

Safety first.

• 62 percent of Americans rank security and home monitoring as the most beneficial reason to own a smart home.
• Overall convenience comes in at third place (35 percent), and protection from floods, fire and other disasters (29 percent) ranks fourth.
• Americans aged 65 and older (24 percent) are more than twice as likely as those aged 18-64 (11 percent) to name ease-of-use as the most important factor in smart home product purchase consideration.

Wishful thinking in the age of DIY.

• While Rosie the Robot is the most-wanted futuristic feature from "The Jetsons," according to more than one-third (36 percent) of Americans, most smartphone or tablet owners (70 percent) wish they could just control something in their home from their mobile device without getting out of bed.
• "The Jetsons" automatic meal machine ranked second (19 percent), followed by the Flying Suit (16 percent).
• In order of importance, Americans who own a smartphone or tablet want to adjust the thermostat (44 percent), turn on the lights (39 percent) or start the coffee pot (27 percent) before getting out of bed.
• Nearly half of Americans (49 percent) wish their home would already be the perfect temperature when they arrive home. Other popular wishes include the lights being on (37 percent) and doors being unlocked (27 percent).
• The top three things Americans wish they could control before they arrive home are actually the same three things they're most likely to forget to do before leaving the house: turn off the lights (18 percent), adjust the thermostat (15 percent) or lock the door (5 percent).
• Over half of Americans (52 percent) admit they forget to do something when they leave the home.

Smart parents, safe kids.

• 61 percent of parents with children ages 3-17 plan to monitor their children in some way when they go back to school.
  • 35 percent plan to buy their child a cell phone
  • 19 percent will use at-home cameras
  • 17 percent will receive text notifications
  • 13 percent plan to put a GPS or monitoring device in their child's backpack
  • People in the western region of the country (23 percent) are more likely than those in the Northeast (4 percent) or Midwest (9 percent) to put a GPS or monitoring device in their child's backpack.
• Midwesterners are the least likely (41 percent) to monitor their children in any way when they go back to school.
• Men are more likely (68 percent) than women (55 percent) to monitor their child's after-school activity.

An infographic depicting the results and a visual report of the survey can be downloaded here: https://app.box.com/s/vnl28tu9nauajw2pkq6r. 

Lowe's was the first to target the mass consumer market with a broad home automation solution in Iris and the first to introduce a truly open platform – allowing devices across its stores to connect with one another. Iris offers a wide variety of connected devices from well-known brands, a simple user experience, value-priced products, an easy DIY system setup, free service from the day of installation, customizable rules to connect devices and more. Iris from Lowe's was developed and designed for the consumer, using nearly 70 years of home improvement experience and input from its 15 million shoppers a week.

For the complete list of products available for Iris, please visit Lowes.com/Iris.

Methodology

This survey was conducted online within the United States between July 10-12, 2014 among 2,088 adults ages 18 and older by Harris Poll on behalf of Lowe's via its Quick Query omnibus product. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was used to adjust for respondents' propensity to be online.

About Lowe's

Lowe's Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE® 100 home improvement company serving approximately 15 million customers a week in the United States, Canada and Mexico. With fiscal year 2013 sales of $53.4 billion, Lowe's has more than 1,835 home improvement and hardware stores and 260,000 employees. Founded in 1946 and based in Mooresville, N.C., Lowe's supports the communities it serves through programs that focus on K-12 public education and community improvement projects. For more information, visit Lowes.com.

About Nielsen & The Harris Poll

On February 3, 2014, Nielsen acquired Harris Interactive and The Harris Poll.  Nielsen Holdings N.V. (NYSE: NLSN) is a global information and measurement company with leading market positions in marketing and consumer information, television and other media measurement, online intelligence and mobile measurement. Nielsen has a presence in approximately 100 countries, with headquarters in New York, USA and Diemen, the Netherlands. For more information, visit www.nielsen.com.

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SOURCE Lowe's Companies, Inc.