Baidu experienced a growth of 3700% of its sales of connected speakers over a year, according to a report from the research firm Canalys published Monday, August 26, 2019. Driven by the Chinese market from which it comes, the Web giant reportedly so exceeded Google. Baidu becomes the second largest manufacturer in the world, behind Amazon, in this market.
3700%. This is the impressive growth displayed by Baidu over the past year according to the research firm Canalys, which unveiled this Monday, August 26, 2019 report on connected speakers . The company now has 17.3% of market share globally, with 4.5 million speakers delivered in the second quarter of 2019. It would thus delight the second step of the podium to Google , which cashes for its part a decline 20% over one year … and double, at the same time, its Chinese competitors Alibaba and Xiaomi , both of which cap at about 38% growth.
AN ACCESSIBLE ENCLOSURE AND SOLD IN CHINA
The Mountain View company would have delivered “only” 4.3 million speakers over the same period – for a market share of 16.7% to date. Only Amazon seems to resist Baidu. The US giant also continues to grow (61.1%) and has delivered 6.6 million Echo speakers, which now accounts for about a quarter of the global market. From April to June 2019, a total of 26.1 million smart speakers were purchased by consumers according to the study. An annual increase across all brands of 55%, which proves the growing interest of different audiences – both B2B and B2C – for this technology . And especially in China .
It is in this market that Baidu finds its growth lever. The Chinese are more and more fond of the vocal assistants. But Google has never invested this market, when Amazon struggles to transform the test to win. First positioned on the high end, Baidu seized the opportunity to launch an affordable speaker, Xiaodu, sold only $ 12.
A strategy that seems profitable for the company, which sold only 100,000 devices comparable period in 2018. And that complicates the equation of its US competitors. Inevitably, Google and Amazon will one day have to convince Chinese consumers if they want to stay at the top of the table.
