Alibaba, Baidu and Xiaomi Rank Top Five in Global Smart Speaker Shipments
Canalys data shows that in the third quarter of 2019, global smart speaker shipments totaled 28.6 million units, up 44.9% year-on-year. The top five brands included Amazon (10.4 million units), Alibaba (3.9 million units), Baidu (3.7 million units), Google ( 3.5 million units) and Xiaomi (3.4 million units).
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Canalys senior analyst Jason Low attributed Amazon’s strong performance to its recently launched Echo upgrade program, which allows users to redeem older Echo or non-Echo Bluetooth speakers for newer models. He added that Alibaba‘s Tmall Genie equipment may perform well, partly because of the cooperation between Alibaba and Starbucks, Budweiser, Abbott and Oreo among other local and international brands. This differentiates Tmall Genie compared to Baidu and Xiaomi products.
The latest data shows that during the Singles’ Day shopping festival this year, the Tmall Genie became the sales champion among smart speakers for the third time in a row. The success of Alibaba’s smart speaker is largely attributable to Tmall Genie’s live broadcast promotional strategy. In addition, from November 1 to November 11, Baidu‘s smart speaker Xiaodu topped the charts in terms of transaction volume for smart speakers with screens.
According to Euromonitor International, a world-renowned research company, the total sales volume of China’s smart speaker market reached 27.56 million units in the first three quarters of 2019. Baidu, Alibaba and Xiaomi‘s products together accounted for over 90% of the domestic market.
