PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
In the space of four years the total market value of the UK tech sector climbed 13 per cent to reach £49 billion.
That’s according to research group Mintel, who measured consumer trends in the UK between 2004 and 2008. The firm predicts that Britons will maintain their thirst for gadgets in the years ahead, taking the tech market to a value of around £60 billion by the end of 2014.
Despite calculating market data in the four years preceding a global economic recession in full flow, Mintel is confident that the tech sector will remain positive in uncertain times.
"In many ways, the recession has had a positive effect for the technology market,” said Mintel senior analyst Jim Clark.
“It has encouraged consumers to consider the latest, converged devices coming to the market in a quest for greater value.”
Clark claims that “as many as” 41 per cent of adult Internet users are going out less during the week than they were a year ago, a conclusion which implies that the consumer data – or at least part of it – was attained by online internet surveys.
Nevertheless, Clark says that the visibly falling appetite for spending on nights out will “impact on demand for home technology as consumers look to the living room for their entertainment needs.”
The research preview does go through consumer questionnaire statistics, claiming that 38 per cent of respondents said they would be willing to give up on a night out in order to buy an electronic device. 29 per cent would sacrifice a weekend away in order to.
Only 11 per cent of respondents claimed they had cut their tech-spending habits purchases during the economic downturn.
