New InfoTrends Forecast Identifies Growth Opportunities for Maturing North American Digital Camera Market

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As the digital camera market matures, industry vendors are struggling to maintain profits while increasing market share. A challenging economy and market saturation is causing average selling prices to drop, and repeat purchasers now dominate digital camera sales. Opportunities still exist for vendors who understand the market dynamics and target the right demographics. InfoTrends recently released forecast entitled North American Consumer Digital Camera Forecast: 2011-2016 provides a six-year forecast for the North American digital camera market in terms of units, revenues, and average selling prices (ASPs) for the consumer digital camera market. It also includes analysis of the key market trends as well as insight and advice for successfully navigating this maturing market.

According to Ed Lee a Group Director at InfoTrends, “Vendors need to embrace the connected experience. Cameras need to become connected in order to stay competitive. Vendors that continue solely down the path of standalone digital cameras risk losing out to other vendors, especially those who already offer a connected imaging experience.”

95% of cameras are currently sold to repeat buyers. Stimulating repeat purchases is critical for vendors to increase profit and market share. The most profitable way to do this is to convince point & shoot camera owners to upgrade to higher-priced digital interchangeable lens cameras (DILCs). The ASP for a point & shoot camera is expected to be $163 during 2011, compared to $600 for a DILC. By the end of the forecast period, the ASP is expected to be $138 for point & shoot cameras and $535 for DILCs.

Vendors should also focus on the photo-active segments of the market, including younger consumers, early adopters of technology, hobbyists and photo enthusiasts, and parents of young children. Photo-active consumers have consistently been shown to upgrade their cameras more frequently, and they are typically more willing to spend more on their cameras.