Arlington, Va. – A study
by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) reports that nearly half of
consumers will shop to replace an accessory included with their consumer
electronics purchase.
The study, Accessory
Purchasing in the 21
st
Century, also said consumers will base their
accessory purchase decisions on functionality rather than price. Sixty-one
percent of online U.S. consumers shopped for accessories in the past year and
more than half (53 percent) made a purchase, CEA said.
“Product quality,
enhancing performance and getting the word out through satisfied customers are
key factors for consumers in purchasing accessories,” said Rhonda Daniel,
market research manager for CEA, said in a statement. “Consumers place more
value on quality and functionality of the accessory than price when making
purchase decisions.”
According to the study,
41 percent of consumers will upgrade an accessory that came with a device to
get a better-quality one, and 26 percent will buy an accessory to enhance the
performance of the device.
Consumers consult an
average of five sources when searching for information, CEA said, including
people they know who own the product (54 percent), friends and family (45
percent) and online customer reviews (44 percent).
The study also found
that 75 percent of accessory purchases are made after the purchase of the
underlying device, with the majority of purchases taking place at brick and
mortar retailers, CEA said, with price and convenience topping the list of
determining where to purchase the product.
The study was fielded
from Jan. 4-10. It is available free to CEA member companies at
.
Non-members may purchase the study for $699 at
.
