消费电子厂商的三大市场机会

市场机会之二：新兴国家消费市场

    人所皆知，新兴国家给各行各业提供了大量成长机会。根据我们的研究结果，在消费电子产业这一现象特别明显。新兴市场对包括平板电脑和智能手机在内的新技术显示了持续和异乎寻常的渴望。他们领衔了多种新型消费电子产品的拥有率和购买意向的增长，而一些更成熟的市场，如法国、德国、日本和美国则被比了下去。在过去12个月中，除了印度，其它新兴市场的城市消费者用于消费电子产品的年收入百分比都高于成熟市场的城市消费者。中国城市消费者已经将最大比例的收入用于高科技消费品，在未来12个月这一比例还可望继续小幅增加。消费电子厂商应该充分利用这些巨大机会。

    那么哪类新型电子产品推动着新兴市场的需求增长？各个国家偏好不同。对于所有的城市新兴市场，个人及专业用途的平板电脑都很重要。中国的拥有率最高（27%）；而在未来12个月消费者平板电脑拥有率最高的国家将是巴西、中国和印度。这些国家的消费者给出的购买理由包括：平板电脑的便携性及其雄踞消费电子领域潮流尖端的地位。进一步的，新兴国家的消费者更多将平板电脑用于专业用途，在某些国家该比例甚至是成熟国家的三倍。特别在巴西、南非和印度，平板电脑广泛应用于个人和专业用途。

市场机会之三：年轻一代

    年轻一代（18岁到34岁之间）痴迷于消费电子技术及相关服务和应用，应该成为消费电子厂商争夺的焦点。我们的调查显示，相对于较老人群（35岁及以上），年轻人群使用并购买更多的消费电子产品。其中的55%在过去12个月至少下载过一次应用程序，而较老人群仅44%有这一行为。年轻消费者也更乐于接受新技术，他们更多地拥有新近上市的产品，比如智能手机和平板电脑。他们的购买意愿也更热切：在所有19个消费电子产品类别，年轻消费者在未来12个月的购买意向都比较老人群高。此外，年轻消费者在使用消费电子产品时更为活跃。当被问及“在典型的一周时间中，你在消费电子设备上进行下列哪项活动？”时，除了收发电邮等传统活动，年轻人群在每项活动中都领先于较老人群。

    米奇•克莱因是埃森哲电子及高科技部门的全球董事总经理。他常驻公司达拉斯办事处，拥有超过25年的半导体、电子、电信和国防客户服务经验。最近，他领导的客户账户小组服务于埃森哲的最大客户之一。他的专长领域包括信息技术改造和业务流程外包（BPO），集成信息技术解决方案，制造/物流运营和产品开发流程改进。

Market Opportunity Number Two: Consumer Markets in Emerging Countries

    It's not a secret that emerging countries offer many growth opportunities for businesses in a wide range of industries. In the consumer electronics industry this is especially true based on our consumer electronics research findings. Emerging markets show a continued and exceptional thirst for the latest technologies such as tablet PCs and smartphones. They lead in ownership and purchase intent growth for many newer types of consumer electronics devices compared with more mature countries such as France, Germany, Japan and the United States. With the exception of India, consumers in urban areas of emerging markets have spent a higher percentage of their annual income on consumer electronics devices in the past 12 months than those in mature markets. Chinese urban consumers, already allocating the largest share of their income toward consumer technology, plan to slightly increase this share in the next 12 months. Consumer electronics companies should capitalize on these myriad opportunities.

    So what newer electronics fuel increased spending within emerging markets? Preferences vary across countries. Across all urban emerging markets, tablets for personal and professional use are especially important. China posted the greatest ownership percentage (27 percent); over the next 12 months the percentage of consumers owning tablets ranked highest in Brazil, China, and India rank highest. These Brazilian, Chinese and Indian consumers cited purchasing the tablet's portability (relative to a laptop) and its status as the latest innovation in consumer electronics as reasons to buy them. Consumers in emerging countries, furthermore, are using tablet computers much more often for professional use—in several cases three times as much as mature countries. In Brazil, South Africa and India, in particular, tablets are used extensively for personal and professional reasons.

Market Opportunity Number Three: The Younger Generation

    The younger generation (those between the ages of 18 and 34) intensely crave consumer electronics technology and associated services and applications, and should be a focal point of consumer electronics companies. Our survey showed this younger group uses and buys more consumer electronics products and services than the older generation (those 35 and above). Fifty-five percent have downloaded apps at least once a week in the past 12 months, compared with 44 percent of older consumers. Younger consumers also lead adoption of new tech¬nologies, owning more of product categories most recently introduced to the market such as smartphones and tablets. They are also more ambitious in their purchase intentions: During the next 12 months, a higher percentage of younger than older consumers intend to buy products in each of the 19 consumer electronics categories. In addition, younger consumers do more activities using consumer electronics. When asked, "Which of the following do you do in a typical week on your consumer electronics devices?" those 35 or younger lead the older generation in every activity except more traditional ones such as emailing from a PC or mobile device.

    Mitch Cline is a the global managing director of Accenture's Electronics & High-Tech Group. Based in the Dallas office, he has 25+ years experience with Semiconductor, Electronics, Telecoms and A&D clients. Most recently, he served as the client account lead for one of Accenture's largest accounts. His areas of expertise include IT Transformation and BPO, Packaged IT solutions delivery, Manufacturing/logistics operations and product development process improvements.