The endless queues in front of the numerous megastores when a new electronic device is released say a lot about the love that Italian consumers have for the innovations that the Hi-Tech market offers day after day.
There are few who manage to give up the latest generation smartphone or the latest tablet and the trend shows no signs of abating.
This is demonstrated by Accentre's Igniting Growth in Consumer Technology research which analyzes the perception that consumers have of devices, services and digital content from the world of hardware manufacturers (smartphones, tablets, PCs, TVs), TLC operators and players of the internet.
The study focuses on purchasing behavior, preference and trust in service providers and on the future of 28 consumers around the world.
According to the study, Italy represents a unicum in the European panorama with the highest penetration rates of smartphones and tablets compared to the rest of the continent. If in our country the aforementioned rate is equal to 91% for smartphones and 60% for tablets, in Europe it drops to 77 and 49 percent respectively. Although the market has reached a certain stability everywhere, higher growth margins are recorded in Italy than the European average: 56% of those interviewed plan to buy a new smartphone in the next 12 months - compared to the European average of 41% - with a drop of 8% compared to 2015, while for tablets we are talking about 36% (24% on a continental level).
But the research is not limited to analyzing the propensity to purchase new devices, but also the existing one for "more classic" products such as TVs. The percentage of consumers intending to buy TVs is also higher than the European average: the 38%, compared to 27% of European consumers. The percentage of Italians who think of buying a laptop is equal to other European nations: 25%, a sign of a market where no substantial innovations are expected, which has reached maturity in all countries.
The reason is soon to be said. Based on what we read in the study, the inhabitants of the Peninsula are much more attracted to innovations than the European average, characterizing themselves as "early adopters": 34% have just bought a new device, compared to 24% of Europeans. And it is precisely innovation that supports the market: it is what pushes 50% of Italians to make a new purchase (compared to 37% of the more pragmatic Germans, 39% of the British and the European average of 38%).
