David RichardsProjector sales are starting to take off again according to GFK with a core market being the office and the purchase of short throw projectors. Sean Fellows, Account Manager at GfK Retail and Technology said “Projectors are now likely to become the flipchart of the digital age consequently demand is likely to continue to rise in the future.”
Projector sales are starting to take off again according to GFK with a core market being the office and the purchase of short throw projectors. Sean Fellows, Account Manager at GfK Retail and Technology said “Projectors are now likely to become the flipchart of the digital age consequently demand is likely to continue to rise in the future.”
He also said that changing working practices and budgets are resulting in a need for greater flexibility within the office. As a lot of work is done digitally, when coming to share this information the need for Projectors and other Audio Visual Equipment has increased.
While GFK Australia does not track office or SMB sales other than via mass market retailers research from IDC and Gartner does show that the SMB and large enterprise market are buying a new generation of projectors.
In the UK projectors have witnessed growth of 38% against the same period last year.Despite the impressive sales of Projectors in 2008, there has however been a noticeable slowdown in unit sales over the past couple month as business cut capital budgets.
Whilst businesses may aspire to equip all their meeting rooms with fully fledged AV suites, within the current trying economic climate this may be no more than a pipe dream. Many meeting rooms are simply too small to deploy a traditional projector with any real success and with a workforce becoming more mobile with the adoption of increasing numbers of Laptops, Netbooks and Smartphones, business technology is becoming more flexible and data projectors are certainly not slacking.
The value of a Portable Data Projector in the mobile workplace is incredibly advantageous, even more so for the new generation of Short Throw Projectors coming onto the market. A Short Throw Projector is defined by GfK as being able to produce an image larger than 1.5M from a distance of less than 100cm. With the benefit of portability and the added bonus of being less reliant on having boardroom sized meeting rooms in which to present, the flexibility of Short Throw Projectors makes them desirable to 21st Century business. This also has benefits within the home as living rooms are getting more compact and space is limited for large screen Televisions.
The latest GfK figures for the UK show that the volumes sold of Short Throw projectors are indeed on the rise, growth increasing on a month by month basis. In September 2008, 2.3% of all projectors sold within the UK were Short Throw models. Interestingly this growth is fuelled by new LCD Projectors, with 5.6% of all LCD Projectors sold in September being Short Throw models, compared to DLP models which contributed to only 0.2% share in the same period. This goes completely against the trend when one looks at the prevalent technologies in the total Projector market. DLP Projectors, which have the greatest volume share standing at 61% in September 2008, have grown massively from the position 12 months ago where they accounted for only 43% of volume sales and LCD Projectors dominated the market.
Sean Fellows said “The adoption of Short Throw Projectors within the consumer channels are yet to be felt – probably due to the high average selling price. The price elasticity of demand is less elastic within a business than in the consumer market. Consequently the average consumer is unlikely to see the intrinsic benefits when they are able to purchase a large screen Television at a lower price. Nevertheless as the technology becomes increasingly price competitive, a fall in price by a couple of hundred pounds could see the adoption rate rise within the consumer channels”.