New CEMA Research Shows Online Sales Of Consumer Electronics Will Reach $14 Billion By 2002
The Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA) recently announced its forecast that Internet sales of traditional consumer technologies to online households should reach at least $14 billion by 2002, representing 13 percent of total industry volume. New CEMA consumer research shows that interest in buying consumer technologies online should grow by at least 135 percent in the next two years. The research results were unveiled at CEMA's conference, Retailing & the Internet - A One-Day Investment with Net Payoffs, held recently n Dallas, Texas. Conducted via e-mail with 2,725 online households in the United States responding, the Online Shopping Survey quickly bears out that the Internet has played its greatest role as a research tool for most traditional consumer technologies. ""Whether consumers make the purchase online or not, the industry will see a tremendous increase in the use of the Internet as a research tool,"" said Todd Thibodeaux, Vice President of Market Research and Senior Economist for CEMA. ""On average, more than 75 percent of consumers who likely will make a consumer technology buy in the next two years will use the Internet to research their purchase."" Of the respondents, more than two-thirds had shopped for or purchased a piece of computer hardware, a software item or computer accessory using the Internet. Computer products are far and away the most active online electronic purchase. Other home office products like phones and fax machines, etc. are second with 23 percent of online shoppers using the Internet to help them make such purchases. However, traditional consumer technology categories such as home and portable stereos, color TVs, along with VCRs and camcorders, are starting to be impacted. Percentage Of Cyber Shoppers Shopping And Purchasing Products Online Shopped Online Computer hardware, software - 29% Home office products - 18% VCR, DVD or camcorder - 12% Videogame hardware or software - 11% Cellular phones or pagers - 11% Home stereo products - 10% Portable stereo products - 6% Color TV - 6% Car stereo products - 5% Bought Online Computer hardware, software - 37% Home office products - 5% VCR, DVD or camcorder - 12% Videogame hardware or software - 5% Cellular phones or pagers - 0% Home stereo products - 2% Portable stereo products - 2% Color TV - 0% Car stereo products - 1% The rate of Internet shopping doubles (relatively) among those who use the Internet in combination with brick and mortar retail to make a traditional consumer technology buy. The overall Internet shopping rate for color TVs was 6 percent. The shopping rate rose to 12 percent among people who regularly use the Internet as part of their shopping process. Other categories show similar increases. The VCR, DVD or camcorder shopping rate rises from 12 percent to 18 percent. For home stereo not only does the Internet shopping rate increase from 10 percent to 19 percent, but the Internet buy rate more than doubles to 4 percent when consumers use the Internet and traditional retail to make a purchase. ""The Internet and traditional retail are working together in consumers' views. They don't see them as separate realms,"" commented Thibodeaux. A Snapshot Of The Consumer Technology Cyber Shopper The survey also gives a clear picture of the typical consumer technology Internet shopper. A full 85 percent are men. In fact, men are more than three times as likely to use the Internet to shop for traditional consumer technologies than women. The demographic also is younger. Someone who uses the Internet to shop for a color TV or a home stereo product is more than twice as likely (proportionally) to be a Gen-Xer or a Baby Boomer even after accounting for the lower overall home stereo purchase rates for the senior demographic. For instance, only 5 percent of senior citizens have used the Internet to shop for a home stereo product vs. 12 percent and 11 percent, respectively, for Gen-X and Baby Boomers. The consumer technology cyber shopper also is more likely to use the Internet regularly to become a more educated shopper and to buy at lower prices. The shopper is more likely to browse the Internet frequently in the buying process, rather than just going directly in and out of a site to find what he or she wants.