By Dr Morten Boyer from GfK Australia

Innovation is the lifeblood of consumer technology products. When a game-changer comes along, like MP3 players, flat screen TVs and smartphones, it has the power to ignite an industry and reset replacement cycles. 

So what has been the innovation impact of Compact System Cameras (CSCs)?

GfK sales figures show that there are certainly more CSCs being sold (66 per cent volume increase in 2012 versus 2011), and CSCs now comprise over 13 per cent of the interchangeable lens market in value. However, sales of CSCs in other APAC countries suggest that there is scope to increase this share by more than double.

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Aside from price, which is a fairly universal factor in most product categories, the balance most camera buyers seek is between image quality and device footprint (size, weight, overall design), according to the results of the latest ConsumerScope into this category.

This survey revealed that CSCs are chosen over DSLRs mainly due to footprint (67 per cent size, 64 per cent weight), suggesting that CSCs are not simply regarded as a cheaper DSLR alternative, but offer an attractive trade-off between image quality and footprint.

However, when the alternative is a fixed lens camera, superior image quality is not regarded as a leading reason for choosing a CSC over a fixed lens camera. Without this perceived benefit, many consumers will likely struggle to accept a larger footprint.

So there is still a need to educate people, especially fixed lens buyers, on the exceptional image quality CSCs can deliver. Part of this should include a reinforcement that there is much more to image quality than megapixels. The in-store environment presents a particularly powerful opportunity to do this, and one approach could be to include captured image comparisons.

ConsumerScope data shows that only around one-third of all interchangeable lens buyers who were influenced in-store were shown images as part of their product demonstration. Yet,of those who were, 38 per cent said it was the most influential factor in their decision-making process.

Dr Morten Boyer is the general manager of Media and Market Insights at GfK Retail and Technology ANZ.