UK Digital Photo Frame market - lowest average price in W. Europe

The Digital Photo Frame market is booming across Western Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Great Britain) with a 132% volume growth for the first half 2008 versus the same period in 2007 according to GfK Retail and Technology. In value terms this represents €181 million!

Analyse shows that Great Britain is the second largest market in term of both revenue and units after France. The major differential between all Western countries is actually the average price of this product. In Great Britain the average price is around 97€ (approximately £70) whilst a Digital Photo Frame in Italy costs around 115€ or 119€ in France.

So why is there such a difference between prices in Great Britain and continental Europe? Clemence Dulau, Account Director at GfK Retail and Technology UK remarks "Great Britain was the first country to launch this product after the USA and it is now the most mature market in Western Europe. Great Britain also has a different distribution. 50% of the volume was within the Mass Merchandiser channel for the first half year of 2008 while in other countries the majority of the volume came from Consumer Electronics Stores which account for 57% of the volume in France and even higher at 69% in Germany."

Dulau continues to say that, "The Mass Merchandisers are, in Great Britain, the channel which has seen the largest decrease in average price this year with a drop of 65€ between June 2008 and 2007. Conversely analysis highlights a drop of only 10€ during the same period in France."

When looking at the technical features, Remote Controls are included in 50% of the devices in Europe and 40% of them also have Built-in Speakers. This clearly shows how the market has evolved with such add-ons included with a Digital Photo Frame to lure the consumer to purchase them.

Nevertheless, the most important feature of a Digital Photo Frame remains the screen size. The majority of Digital Photo Frames sold across Europe have 7 inch screens, with the bigger screen sizes increasing in popularity. Dulau notes, "In Great Britain, 62% of the Digital Photo Frames have a 7 inch screen. But this screen size is in decline due to a development of smaller devices with a 5 inch screen – already 12% of the market in the first half of 2008 - and the boost of the larger 8 and 9 inch segments. Add to that the deterioration of prices and you can now find an 8 inch Digital Photo Frame for the price of a 7 inch one six months ago."

As manufactures try to attract new consumers a feature that could become a key development is a Digital Photo Frame with built-in Wireless Fidelity (WiFi). Digital Photo Frames are set to become fully-fledged Internet appliances, competing with the home PC, TV and mobile for users' time and attention. Dulau adds, "WiFi will be the key feature for next Christmas. Already 4% of the devices in Great Britain are WiFi capable and all manufacturers now have a WiFi product in their range."

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