Technology Holiday Shopper Analysis by Scarborough: Best Buy and Walmart Compete as HDTV, Smartphone and MP3 Ownership Surges in U.S.

NEW YORK, Nov. 22, 2010 /PRNewswire/ --The holiday shopping season is underway and American consumer interest in home technology products continues to expand. Scarborough Research examined households planning purchases of several key home technology products: HDTVs, Smartphones and MP3 players.

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Best Buy and Walmart are Neck-and-Neck for Household Technology Shopper Penetration

Scarborough's analysis of retail data shows that Best Buy and Walmart attract the highest percentage of home technology shoppers:

• 40 percent of households planning purchases of HDTVs, Smartphones or MP3 players shopped Best Buy for home technology products during the past year
• 39 percent shopped Walmart
• 23 percent shopped Target
• 12 percent shopped Radio Shack
• 10 percent shopped Sam's Club
• 10 percent shopped Sears
• 9 percent shopped Kmart
• 9 percent shopped Costco

"American consumers have diversified the types of stores they will shop for home technology goods. Traditional big box stores such as Best Buy, mass retailers like Walmart and Target, and even discount retailers such as Costco and Sam's Club all are important in the home technology ecosystem," said Gary Meo, senior vice president of digital media services, Scarborough Research.

"This is especially true today. The vast majority of adults utilize home technology in some way during the course of a day, so everyone needs related goods and services to a degree. While some may be attracted by competitive or discounted pricing, particularly given current economic concerns, a certain group of more digital savvy consumers will want the 'latest and greatest' HDTV or Smartphone," said Mr. Meo.

HDTV, Smartphone and MP3 Ownership Surge

Scarborough Research focused its home technology shopper analysis on consumers planning HDTV, Smartphone or MP3 player purchases because the firm's data shows a sharp increase household ownership of these items since 2007. During this timeframe:

• HDTV tripled.  In the company's 2007 report, 16 percent of households had an HDTV. This increased to 48 percent in the company's most recent study.
• Smartphones doubled. Seven percent of households had at least one Smartphone in 2007. This increased to 14 percent in 2010.
• MP3 Players doubled. Eighteen percent of households had at least one MP3 player in 2007. This increased to 36 percent in 2010.

Mr. Meo expresses the importance of localism in examining technology adoption: "When you profile households that own one or more MP3 players across 77 major local markets, you see that local penetration levels range from a high of 53 percent in Salt Lake City to a low of 29 percent in Ft. Myers, Little Rock, West Palm Beach, and Harrisburg. This is why localism is an important attribute when creating targeted marketing campaigns."

Internet access, Broadband and DVR Penetration Increase

Internet access, broadband penetration and DVR penetration increased as well. Almost three-fourths of adults (74 percent) now access the Internet, up from 67 percent in 2007. Broadband(1) penetration has increased, from 45 percent of adults having broadband access at home in 2007 to 61 percent in 2010.

DVR adoption also increased. The percentage of homes having a DVR increased from 26 percent in 2007 to 34 percent in 2010.

Cell Phone Ownership Levels Off, Cellular Spending is Up

Scarborough finds that 82 percent of American adults now use a cellular phone, compared to 70 percent in 2007. But, while device ownership is flattening, spending is increasing. In the 2007 report, only five percent of U.S. adults spent $150 or more monthly on cellular services. This doubled to 10 percent in 2010.

"Cellular phone ownership is ubiquitous and more saturated in American homes than Internet access or broadband. There are fewer technologies more personal or more local than a cell phone, which is why spending on mobile advertising is predicted to grow rapidly," said Mr. Meo

Emerging Technologies to Watch

When it comes to emerging digital trends and technologies, Scarborough recently added several new measures to its survey and will track adoption of these technologies or usage of these services on a local and national basis. New measurements include:

• Hulu: Seven percent of Internet users visited Hulu during the past month
• E-Readers: Nationally, four million households (nearly four percent) currently own or plan to buy an e-reader device, such as Amazon.com's® Kindle™  or Barnes & Noble®'s Nook™
• Instant Messaging: 25 percent of Internet users IM'd during the past month
• Social Networking: 40 percent of Internet users used a social networking site, such as Facebook or Twitter, during the past month
• Online Gaming: 14 percent of Internet users downloaded or played video games online during the past month
• Wireless phone feature usage:
  • 51 percent of wireless users texted on their cell phones
  • 16 percent emailed
  • Nine percent accessed a map or GPS navigation service

(1)  Broadband is defined as adults who have a cable or DSL Internet connection in the household.

About Scarborough Research

Scarborough Research (www.scarborough.com, [email protected]) measures the lifestyle and shopping patterns, media behaviors and demographics of American consumers, and is considered the authority on local market research. Scarborough's core syndicated consumer insight studies in 77 Top-Tier Markets, its Multi-Market Study and its national USA+ Study are Media Rating Council (MRC) accredited. Other products and services include Scarborough Mid-Tier Local Market Studies, Hispanic Studies and Custom Research Solutions. Scarborough measures 2,000 consumer categories and serves a broad client base that includes marketers, advertising agencies, print and electronic media (broadcast and cable television, radio stations), sports teams and leagues and out-of-home media companies. Surveying more than 210,000 adults annually, Scarborough is a joint venture between Arbitron Inc. (www.arbitron.com ) and The Nielsen Company (www.nielsen.com).

SOURCE:  Scarborough Research, Scarborough USA+ Study, Release 1 2007 and Release 1 2010 (12 months with the exception of e-reader data which is current release only). All shopper data examines "audio/visual stores shopped past 12 months."

SOURCE Scarborough Research