Westlake Village, Calif. — Canon took top honors from a J.D. Power and Associates study on the photo printer market.
The 2007 Photo Printer Usage and Satisfaction Study focused on single function photo printers and used performance, connectivity, ease of operation, and styling and appearance as the key criteria. Canon scored 728 on a 1,000 point scale, followed by Hewlett-Packard with 707.
Consumers showed a strong preference for models that could print directly from memory cards or digital cameras and were quite happy with portable printers, the research firm reported. Satisfaction among portable printer owners was higher than that of their stationary printing counterparts. Consumers who bought a camera/printer bundle also reported slightly higher levels of satisfaction.
Price remains the key motivator in purchasing decisions, the firm said, with 19 percent of respondents citing it as the most influential factor in their buying decision, followed by print quality at 17 percent and brand reputation (14 percent).The average price of a photo printer in the survey period was $175.
The study also found that the bulk of consumers — 80 percent — bought their printers in a brick-and-mortar retail outlet but those who purchased online reported high levels of satisfaction in terms of product and accessory availability. Printer buyers are very loyal to their chosen brands, with 90 percent of respondents saying their next printer would from the same manufacturer.
