Outlook Series | Emerging Market Consumers Keener on Tech

Emerging Market Consumers Keener on Tech

January 7, 2009

Consumers in emerging markets are twice as likely as those in developed markets to purchase and use consumer technology in the next year and are more willing to pay a premium for “environmentally friendly” consumer electronics products.

The Accenture 2010 Consumer Electronics Products and Services Usage Report is based on a survey of 16,000 consumers in four “mature” countries (the United States, Germany, France and Japan) and four “emerging” countries (China, India, Malaysia, and Singapore). The survey’s main purpose was to identify current and future spending and usage patterns for 19 different consumer technologies, including smartphones, high-definition TVs and computers.

Among the key findings: Compared with consumers in mature countries, consumers in emerging countries are:

more than two and a half times as likely to buy a smartphone during the next year (52 percent vs. 20 percent);
more than twice as likely to have bought a smartphone in the past year (67 percent vs. 32 percent);
twice as likely to have bought a computer in the past year (40 percent vs. 20 percent);
more than twice as likely to have at least occasionally played video games on handheld devices (58 percent vs. 28 percent);
nearly twice as likely to have at least occasionally connected with people on social networks (69 percent vs. 38 percent); and
significantly more likely to pay a premium for consumer products marketed as being environmentally friendly (84 percent vs. 50 percent).

One of the reasons for this emerging-country growth is the rapid expansion of the middle class with its substantial disposable income,” said Jean-Laurent Poitou, managing director of Accenture’s Electronics & High Tech industry group.

“Furthermore, our research shows that the increased demand for smart connected wireless devices such as smartphones is being driven by social-networking applications.

“Emerging-country consumers use mobile devices more than they do computers to access Internet-enabled applications and services, and consumers in mature countries are also headed in that direction.”