Parks Links Lag in CE Device Buy Rates to Lack of Satisfaction, 'Purchase Buzz'
Households are buying fewer traditional CE devices than in the past, said a Parks Associates report Tuesday, citing a drop in purchase rates from 87 percent in 2008 to 74 percent last year. Parks broke out as examples buying figures…
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from Q1 when 12 percent of broadband households bought a game console, 5 percent bought a connected Blu-ray player and 3 percent bought a DVR, it said. "Today, consumers are satisfied with many of their existing products, provided they are working well," said President Tricia Parks. Consumers value their connected CE products, but there’s “no big purchase buzz except for personal assistants with voice,” Parks said, identifying the Amazon Echo for its “wow factor” that’s translating to consumer adoption. The smart speaker category as a whole, which also includes Google Home, has the highest Net Promoter Score of all surveyed CE devices, said Parks, and that’s bringing competitive devices to the market. A wider number of products with Wi-Fi and market saturation in flat screen TVs and smartphones is contributing to the decline in purchase rates for many CE categories, said the research firm, which also noted a lack of familiarity with newer technologies including virtual reality headsets and 4K TVs. Other findings: Broadband households own an average 8.1 connected CE products; nearly half of all broadband households have a smart TV; ownership of game consoles dropped to 49 percent in 2017 from 58 percent last year; and 70 percent of streaming media player owners report using their devices one to three times per week.