Digital Photo Frames Selling Well

UK consumers are buying digital photo frames faster than ever before, according to Futuresource Consulting. In excess of 1.8 million digital frames were sold in the UK during 2008 and it’s estimated that 10% of UK households now own at least one digital picture frame.

A large number of cheap 7-inch wide screen frames contributed to a rise in sales volume of 60 percent in comparison with 2007. Sales are heavily driven by gifting and first time impulse buyers attracted by increasingly low prices. Between December 2007 and December 2008 prices fell by about 20 percent for the highly popular 7-inch wide screen model of frame.
 
The gifting market is very strong and there are strong sales peaks in advance of major holidays. Consumers love the ability to customize the frames by loading them with photographs prior to handing over their gift and many are now becoming aware of the possibility of providing “updates”, either by passing over a new memory card with new photos on it or even by wirelessly downloading a batch of photos from the web.
 
Well known brand names such as Kodak, Philips, Samsung, Toshiba and Sony grew their market share (to 54 percent) in 2008, but unbranded frames and lesser known models continued to sell well also.
 
Despite the current economic climate, sales are expected to continue to grow by between 10 and 20 percent in 2009. Market analysts are forecasting that we will see increasing numbers of “convergence products” - items such as iPods, TVs, notebooks etc. which include picture frame functionality - and that these may gradually erode the sales of dedicated digital frames.
 
That would certainly seem quite reasonable considering the large number of products which are now incorporating digital frames. Small 1.5 inch key ring type frames are perhaps a predictable development - but thermal travel mugs, desk tidies and even sunglasses with digital frames are also currently available in the marketplace.

In fact, as digital frames are developed with ever increasing functionality it may become difficult to tell whether a device is a frame which can also browse the net or another type of device which can also display photographs. Frames already exist which can read news feeds from the internet and receive wireless transmission of photographs from internet photo sharing sites. Likewise, large screen TVs which can be used to display family photos rather than a blank screen when in standby mode, are now on the market.
 
In summary, digital photo frames must now be regarded as a mainstream consumer product rather than a high technology gadget. Their mass appeal in the gifting market will ensure continued growth in 2009, despite the economic climate, and future technology fusion will fuel further sales growth in the medium to long term.