Bring on the Clones: Echo Dot Competitor is Less Expensive & Available on Amazon
Last fall Anker, a brand mostly known for battery packs and chargers, launched a new line of smart home products under a new sister brand called Eufy. This week Eufy launched an Alexa smart speaker of its own called the Eufy Genie. The Genie is basically an Echo Dot clone except when it comes to price. The new device retails for $34.99 compared to the standard retail price of $49.99 for the Echo Dot. While the Echo Dot did retail for that price during Amazon’s Prime Day sale this year, it has never been sold under that price point.
Amazon Welcomes the Competition
The Eufy Genie is available for purchase on the company’s website and on Amazon.com. It may seem odd that Amazon is allowing a direct copy cat of its best selling smart speaker to be sold on its own online store, but this is what Amazon wants. The company has made it clear that it is prioritizing its Alexa software over hardware. The more devices that integrate with Alexa, the better. It doesn’t matter if a consumer purchases the Eufy Genie or the Echo. Either way, they will still be interacting with Alexa on a regular basis. At $34.99 the Eufy Genie is also one of the cheapest smart speakers on the market right now which is actually a win for Amazon and Alexa. Price is the value consumers care about most when shopping for a smart speaker. A lower price point lowers the barrier for consumer adoption, and in this case, consumer adoption of Alexa as a virtual assistant. Amazon’s view is the more, the merrier when it comes to Alexa-enabled devices. So bring on the clones.
