The title says it all, here is the press release:
PALO ALTO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Market Insight Corporation today reported that U.S. consumers are placing greater importance on “brand” for digital camera purchase decisions. Further, the maximum price that consumers are willing to pay for a digital camera is increasingly influenced by brand.
Based on preferences collected from more than 26,000 digital camera shoppers visiting MyProductAdvisor.com from May through October 2011, those who prefer the Nikon brand are willing to pay the most, with Canon ranking second. Olympus, Panasonic, and Fujifilm are among those brands attracting shoppers with more moderate willingness to pay. The results may verify expectations that Nikon’s overall brand/price power is positively impacted by the presence of its “high end” line of cameras.
The maximum price that consumers are willing to pay across a broad line of digital cameras reached a “recent years low” during the 2nd half of 2010, and has been trending up during 2011. A noteworthy trend is the shift towards cameras priced over $600. Between May and October, the percentage of shoppers in this price group increased by 12%. But not all brands enjoy consumers’ enhanced willingness to pay. For example, consumers who prefer Samsung are drawn to stylish design, internet based social media, point and shoot, and video recording capability. But those preferences have not yet translated to a significant increase in shoppers’ willingness to pay. This may confirm expectations that smartphone cameras compete for these attributes.
I think they should have included also Leica Camera in this survey because they just raised their prices and were still able to increase their sales by 28% compared to last year.
