Consumers: Price Is Key To Digital Camera Sale
By Doug Olenick -- TWICE, 1/6/2000
When it comes to buying a digital camera, price is the primary deciding factor for consumers, while brand name is hardly considered, according to a study conducted by Active Research, Burlingame, Calif.
Of the 2,679 consumers included in the study, which was conducted during the third quarter of 1999, 22.6 percent said price was the most important feature of a digital camera.
Resolution was a somewhat distant second at 17.1 percent.
The least two important features were brand name, with just 4.3 percent of the respondents naming it important, and the physical size of the camera, which was significant to only 3.1 percent.
Ease of image download into a PC was only important to 6.3 percent of those surveyed.
The study showed that consumers wanted a digital camera that contained film-camera features. An optical zoom was of interest to 12.4 percent, and cameras with the least amount of lag time between shots were important to 11.1 percent of the people. The ability to take many shots quickly was not considered that important, but the cameras high-resolution image capacity was deemed significant to 11.6 percent of those polled.
The study found that men are most likely to be interested in purchasing a digital camera. Out of 9,374 people who contributed to this part of the study, 80.4 percent were male.
Age also plays a role with 80 percent of these people being between 25 and 54 years old. About 7 percent of consumers were between 20 and 24 years old and 11.6 percent were over 55 years old. There is even some interest among teenagers, with just over 2 percent expressing interest in the product category.
Consumers were also much more likely to research their digital camera purchase online, compared to those looking to use the digital camera strictly for business purposes.
However, there is a large amount of crossover, with 40.8 percent of those polled indicating they would use a digital camera for both work and play. Consumers comprised 48.2 percent and business shoppers 10.9 percent.
When it came to how much a consumer was willing to pay for a digital camera, Active Research found interest dropped off when the camera's price surpassed the $500 level. The survey indicated that 73.8 percent of respondents were willing to pay $500, but only 37.9 percent were willing to pay $750, and 23.4 percent would shell out $1,000.
More than 90 percent of consumers polled were willing to pay $300.
Business customers would pay more, with 45.6 percent saying $1,000 was a fair price for a digital camera and 20.9 percent willing to pay $1,500.
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