The FINANCIAL — Looks may count for some things, but they do not appear to sway Canadians in the market for technology products. According to a recent GfK survey, Canadians are less likely than US and UK consumers to be influenced by looks and style when buying tech devices.
In Canada, only 21% of respondents agree that the appearance of a technology product is very important to their purchase decisions, compared to 30% in the US and 25% in the UK.
Across all 22 countries surveyed, one in three consumers (33%) firmly agree that looks and style are very important to their tech purchases, compared to less than one in 10 (9%) who firmly disagree.
In Canada, men and women were equally likely (or possibly “unlikely”) to assert that tech aesthetics matter to them; only 21% of either sex agreed with this statement. In the US, and UK, men were notably more concerned about looks and style, leading women by 33% to 28% in the US and 28% to 21% in the UK.
Younger groups care about tech looks, style
According to the survey, Canadian teenagers (ages 15 to 19) and those 30 to 39 years old place the highest importance on the look and style of tech devices,, with 34% in each age group expressing agreement.
They are followed by 20 to 29 year olds (25% agree) and those ages 40 to 49 (19%). Canadians in the 50-plus age bracket are far less likely to consider looks and style important.
Among US consumers surveyed, the look and style of technology products are most important to those ages 30 to 39, with 42% agreeing that looks matter in choosing which product to buy. They are closely followed by teenagers 15 to 19 (41%) and then 20 to 29 year olds, who stand at 39%.
In the UK, 20 to 29 year olds recorded the highest concern about tech aesthetics, with 38% saying they would influence purchase decisions; the 30-to-39 group was second, at 30%, followed closely by the teens (ages 15 to 19) at 29%.
Looks matter most in Turkey, Mexico and Brazil
Internationally, technology product manufacturers should avoid presenting anything but good looking devices to consumers in Turkey, Mexico and Brazil, as these countries come top of all 22 markets for ‘looks appeal’, with close to half of their consumers agreeing that the look and style of a technology product is very important in deciding which one to buy (Turkey 49 per cent, Mexico 48 per cent and Brazil 45 per cent) – including around a quarter in each country who say they “agree completely” (Turkey 26 per cent, Mexico 23 per cent and Brazil 25 per cent).
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