Australian consumers spend $5.9 billion on digital tech in '09
Australians spent more on consumer technology in 2009 than in any other year, according to the latest Canon Consumer Digital Lifestyle Index1 (Canon CDLI). While factors such as repeated interest rate rises, flagging consumer sentiment and continued unemployment tightened purse strings, the total of consumer products covered in the Canon CDLI increased by 3.1% to $5.90 billion in 2009.
“The latest Canon CDLI reveals that despite economic changes our appetite for technology is continuing, with our growing sophistication and creativity driving our desire for higher quality,” says Darren Ryan, General Manager – Consumer Product Marketing, Canon Australia. “The findings bode well for the industry, because they show the potential for future growth that exists for vendors and retailers able to satisfy consumer demand for high-quality outcomes.”
The latest results show that average selling prices in 8 of the 11 product categories covered by the Canon CDLI rose by around 11% on average from 2H 2008 to 2H 2009. This reflects the huge growth in the sales of more highly specced and fully featured product offerings and is testament to the growing desire consumers have for getting the most out of their digital products.
“The market growth that is evident in Full HD TVs and Blu Ray DVD equipment matches what we’re seeing on the image capture side, particularly our phenomenal growth in high-end digital compact and digital SLR cameras,” says Ryan. “Australians continue to take more photos each month2 and take full advantage of the numerous ways to share and enjoy them; they understand that higher image quality increases your creative options, such as cropping, printing larger images or viewing on a Full HD screen.”
The growing penetration of flat screen televisions into Australian homes represents an irreversible shift in the digital lifestyle in terms of consumers’ image-quality expectations. The growing demand for the Full HD 1080p format in particular has highly positive future growth implications for several CDLI sub categories, including Blu-ray hardware, Full HD camcorders and cameras equipped to capture Full HD movies.
The largest growth in the second half of 2009 came from flat screen televisions, with Australian consumers purchasing over 1,381,000 units – the majority being LCD TVs. The number of LCD TVs purchased leapt by 37.5% from 787,000 in 2H 2008 to more than 1,081,000 units in 2H 2009.
Australians’ appetite for digital products overall is likely to continue in 2010, since the majority of the Canon CDLI categories have penetration rates lower than 50%. Furthermore, the categories with higher penetration, such as digital cameras, are trading off any low-end product decline with a remarkable 100% growth (2H 2008 versus 2H 2009) in the high-end market (10 megapixels+, 4x optical zoom+, $400+).
“The results are showing us that industry growth will be sustained through continued innovation and product upgrades that cater to users’ creative desires and quality requirements,” says Ryan. “Recent announcements this year such as 3D television indicate that the next stage of evolution is underway.”
1 The Canon CDLI is independent research commissioned by Canon and compiled by GfK using information on sales figures (units and dollar value) provided by GfK's retail audit panel.
2 The GfK ConsumerScope camera study tracks and regularly reports on the purchase, ownership and usage of a rolling annual sample of 4,000 recent digital camera buyers.