If you're like most people around the world, you're spending more time at home than ever. And if you're also like most people spending time at home, you're re-thinking your home security options, from door locks, to video surveillance. Meanwhile, normally quiet towns like Boulder and Spokane are experiencing increases in burglaries amid the Coronavirus outbreak.

Many homeowners are buying and installing security cameras as a way to catch potential thieves. These cameras not only capture a would-be burglar before (and during) a crime, but they also send the video to the cloud where it can be retrieved and used as evidence.

How do we know this? Sales-rank and price data from Amazon shows a marked increase in the popularity and a reduction in price of security cams.

The number of security cameras for sale at Amazon has jumped in recent months as opportunistic vendors offer inexpensive alternatives to cams offered by Google, Logitech, and Amazon. As a result, the number of cameras that have appeared in Amazon's sales-ranks jumped from 5 in late 2019 to more than 50 in recent weeks.

Given the new-found popularity of these third-party cameras, the average price has remained constant and even down. In 2019, the average security camera price was well above $100. These days, though, they hover around $80.

The most-popular security camera as of late is a $38.99 Outdoor Security Camera by AMICCOM that has nearlt 2,400 positive reviews. The second-most-popular camera is a Wireless Rechargeable Battery-Powered WiFi camera from ZUMIMALL that goes for $79.99.

In other words, the security camera market has been flooded by white-labeled imports that people are buying up to help protect their homes during the Coronavirus lockdown. Just one name-brand camera, the $175 Google Nest Security Camera, is listed in the top-20 sellers for security cameras at Amazon. The Blink XT2, at $179, comes in at a sales rank of 33 out of 100.

Consumer buying trends are revealing a fascinating, and sometimes surprising, reflection of our new normal. People are buying freezers to store perishables, routers to work from home, and athleisure wear to stay comfortable. It'll be interesting to see which of these things stick as we begin to head out our front doors and get back to life as usual.

About the Data:

Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales. 

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