The global smart escalator market is experiencing a significant growth and is expected to grow considerably in the next few years. An escalator is an essential component of any public building and millions of people use them around the world to move between floors. Basically, they are self-moving stairs, designed for people's movement between the floors. Unlike an ordinary escalator, a smart escalator incorporates new and latest technologies, which helps in making the escalators safe to ride and reduces unnecessary delays. A smart escalator offers a greater aesthetic appeal to the building, which is one of the major factors driving its demand. Smart escalators can be of various types, such as straight step types, spiral step types, and moving belt types, as per the needs of the building. These buildings include commercial buildings, public places, airports, railway stations, retail stores, and malls. Moreover, smart escalators are highly advanced machinery, and major players in the smart escalator industry adopt advanced technologies to increase the efficiency and productivity of their products to sustain the competition in the smart escalator market.
Market Scope and Structure Analysis
Description
A smart escalator uses latest technology such as artificial intelligence and IOT based platforms to generate data, identify problems and make decisions by itself on maintenance issues and operational patterns. All this is done in real-time. Basically, it uses this data, which it has accumulated over the time, to improve its performance during peak time.
COVID-19 Impact Analysis
- The COVID-19 pandemic ceased the production of various products in the smart escalator industry and a serious blow to new construction projects, this is attributed to the global lockdown. This has hampered the growth of smart escalator market in the years and a similar trend is expected to be seen in the first half of 2022.
- The major demand for smart escalator was previously noticed from giant developed and developing countries including the U.S., Germany, Italy, UK, India, and China, which are negatively affected by the spread of the coronavirus, thereby declining the demand for smart escalator.
- Further, long-term impact of the lockdown is currently vague and financial recovery of companies is totally based on their cash reserves. Smart escalator manufacturers can afford a full lockdown only for a few months, after which the players have to modify their investment plans. For instance, various players in the market halted their production activities for several weeks to reduce their expenses. On the contrary, few players adopted employee lay-offs to sustain themselves during the COVID-19 health crisis.
- Smart escalator manufacturers are expected to focus on protecting their workforce, operations, and supply chains to respond to immediate crises and find new ways of working after COVID-19. For instance, provision of sanitizers, maintaining social distancing, as well as ensuring the vaccination of every employee in the company can assist in promoting the health & safety of the workforce.
Top Impacting Factors
The rapid urbanization especially in the developing countries is leading to the growth in the number of public places and commercial buildings. This factor is anticipated to increase the demand in the smart escalator market. Moreover, the increased emphasis on building smart cities especially in Asian countries such as India and China is likely to pave a way for the extensive growth in the smart escalators market. A smart escalator's safety features, such as automatic detection of personal falls, slip, and trip detection, as well as self-detection of potential issues and maintenance scheduling, make it a better choice than a standard escalator. . However, the high cost of installation and operation is one of the restraining factors hindering the growth of smart escalator market. Contrarily, technological developments in smart escalator technologies such as adoption of touch less operation, use of internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) boost the efficiency of the equipment, as well as result in lower number down times due to untimely maintenance of smart escalators. This is expected to create lucrative opportunities for the growth of smart escalator market during the forecast period.
Market Trends
- Many businesses in the escalators market are partnering with tech companies so as to provide better smart escalators and other vertical transportation equipment. For instance, in May 2019, the Schindler partnered with Telefónica for digital connectivity. Under the agreement, Telefónica will be the IoT and network connectivity partner for Schindler’s digital offerings. The product launch has enhanced the product offerings by Schindler to sustain the competition in the smart escalator market.
- Similarly, competitors in the smart escalator market adopted acquisition as their key developmental strategy to expand their geographical foothold and upgrade their product technologies. For instance, in February 2020, Fujitec Co., Ltd., a Japan based elevator and escalator manufacturer, acquired the UK-based Amalgamated Lift Ltd., involved in the business of sales, installation, and maintenance of elevator and escalator system. This will help Fujitec to further expand its business in the UK.
- Moreover, business expansion strategies assist in enhancing the geographic footprint of the company and help in gaining significant market share for smart escalator products. For instance, in March 2020, Thyssenkrupp Elevator, a Germany-based elevator and escalator manufacturer, opened a spare parts warehouse in Pune, India. This will help TK Elevator to cater both domestic and neighboring markets including Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka.
Key Benefits of the Report
- This study presents the analytical depiction of the smart escalator industry along with the current trends and future estimations to determine the future investment pockets.
- The report presents information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities, along with detailed analysis of the smart escalator market share.
- The current market is quantitatively analyzed to highlight the smart escalator market growth scenario.
- Porter’s five forces analysis illustrates the potency of buyers & suppliers in the market.
- The report provides a detailed smart escalator market analysis based on competitive intensity and how the competition will take shape in coming years.
Smart Escalator Market Report Highlights
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