InfoTrends, a leading market research organisation has publishd the results of a recent web-based survey of nearly 4,000 Internet users in Western Europe which examines consumers’ continual adoption and usage of digital photography products and services throughout the region.
According to the survey, the Western European digital camera market is continuing to mature. While 58% of digital camera owners considered themselves to be mainstream adopters, 25% described themselves as late adopters, up 15% from 2006.
As the digital camera market reaches maturation, sales of digital cameras are slowing and the replacement market is becoming a key driver for future growth. Price-sensitive mainstream consumers will enter the replacement digital camera market in 2007 and they will seek optimal price and feature combinations, rather than stylish designs or high-tech features.
“Vendors will need to consider what motivates each of these segments to buy new cameras, take more photos, and do more with the photos that they capture,” commented Stewart Murdoch, Associate Director at InfoTrends. “By obtaining an understanding of the needs, desires, and motivations of snapshot photographers, family memory keepers, female and male digital camera users, first-time buyers, and replacement buyers, vendors can target their products to those segments that best suit their businesses.”
In terms of photo printing, while the home is still the most popular print location, many consumers turn to retail stores and online services when printing higher volumes of photos. 24% of survey respondents stated that they never print photos, and 28% reported that they print only when they have to. In addition, this study indicates that there are strong regional differences in printing behaviour.
“If print vendors cannot convince digital camera owners to do more with the photos that they print, they will likely see a steady decline in print revenues over time,” commented Murdoch. “Offering consumers more creative products like photo books and photos cards as well as other photo merchandise may increase the revenues generated from the photos that are printed.”
InfoTrends’ new report, 2007 Western European Digital Photography Survey: Digital Cameras and Photo Printing, provides analysis on Internet users’ digital camera ownership, usage, and applications, as well as the intentions of non-users to purchase digital photography products and services. Many of the results are broken out into the 5 main countries in the European marketplace, namely France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.
Info Trends
www.infotrends.com
