• by Chuck Martin , Staff Writer, July 24, 2018

With its early start in the smart speaker market, Amazon has taken a commanding lead.

In yet another new metric, the online mega-retailer takes first place as the go-to place to get a smart speaker.

Amazon.com is the web location to find a smart speaker and the first choice of where to buy one, according to the smart speaker benchmark study by WUA.

The research company surveyed 300 U.S. adults, half male, half female, selected from a panel. Participant were asked to use their own computers to find and evaluate at least four websites that sell smart speakers.

They were given the instructions: “Imagine that you want to buy a Smart Speaker online. Find a smart speaker online that matches your needs, desires, and requirements. Please assess all the steps to buy a smart speaker, however, don’t actually buy the product.”

The consumers were free to use websites or search engines and then each evaluated at least four websites and then answered questions.

In terms of “findability,” Amazon.com topped all others, including Google, for speaker searches. Here are the websites visited to find smart speakers:

• 94% -- Amazon
• 72% -- Best Buy
• 43% -- Walmart
• 39% -- Google
• 30% -- Target
• 19% -- eBay
• 17% -- Apple
• 14% -- Sonos

When it came to selecting their top choice for a smart speaker, Amazon also came in first (62%), followed by Best Buy (15%), Google (5%) and Apple (4%).

While this benchmarking may not be projectable to the market, it is yet another indicator of the commanding lead Amazon holds in the smart speaker race, which is still relatively early.