Author: Mintel Group Ltd.
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Digital Trends Quarterly - UK - July 2019
Overview
 
Q2 2019 has seen the steady growth in smartwatches continue, with ownership reaching 12% of consumers, but this growth is slower than in previous years. It’s clear that the market still hasn’t addressed the challenge of how to expand appeal beyond the first wave of early adopters. 

There are some positive signs for the struggling computer market, though, with ownership of hybrid laptops and all-in-one desktops on the rise, suggesting that the appeal of niche form factors can help encourage replacement purchases. 

Digital transactional activity continues to shift to mobile, particularly for younger consumers, with 16-24s rapidly embracing mobile contactless payments and m-commerce. At the same time, refocusing of strategies from social media platforms – particularly Facebook - has contributed to a decline in the number of people liking or following brands on social media, which fell from 50% of people having done so in the last three months in October 2017 to 46% in April 2019.

As companies spend more and more on influencer marketing, Mintel’s research finds that YouTubers and vloggers are the people whose social media activity is most likely to have influenced consumers’ purchase or activity choices, ahead of other celebrities like actors/actresses and sports stars. Clothing and accessories is the most-influenced purchase category, while YouTube is the platform where most people have seen content that has influenced their choices, ahead of Facebook in second and Instagram in a close third.

Covered in this Report
This Report covers ownership of and intentions to purchase consumer technology products (eg televisions, laptops, and smartphones), as well as the methods that people have used to connect to the internet in the last three months.

Mintel’s Digital Trends Report series examines what types of activities consumers have performed online using PCs (laptops or desktops), tablets and smartphones. In each quarter, we focus on a different aspect of consumer behaviour, and this edition focuses on financial, transactional and product/brand-related activities, including online shopping, managing finances and reading/writing product reviews.

Furthermore, every edition contains a Special Focus section, where we address a particular aspect of the consumer technology market. This edition’s Special Focus is on the impact of online influencers on people’s purchase decisions.

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