Purchase decisions influenced by look and style of gadgets

The look and style of technology products are most important to those aged 20- to 29-years old, with 37% in strong agreement that looks matter in choosing which product to buy – and only 5% strongly against.

They are closely followed by 30- to 39-year-olds and then teenagers (those aged 15- to 19-years-old) who stand at 34% and 11% respectively. For those aged 50 and over, the looks and style of technology products become comparatively less important in the purchase decision, with strong agreement dropping to just under a quarter ( 23%).

Turkey, Mexico and Brazil came 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. In Sweden, Belgium and Germany, consumers are less swayed by looks.

Arndt Polifke, GfK’s global director for telecommunications, said: “These findings give our clients the big picture on what different markets and demographics are focusing on, in selecting technology products to buy. For example – which markets will favour a smartphone that’s stylish to look at, over other aspects? When we add in the granular detail delivered by our point of sales data, showing how well specific products are selling in each market and at what price, this produces robust market insight.”

GfK conducted an online survey (face to face in Ukraine) with over 26,000 consumers aged 15 or older in 22 countries. Fieldwork was carried out in summer 2014.