TORONTO — Thirty-five percent of Canadian households say they are more likely to buy tech products due to the Covid-19 pandemic, according to new research from the U.S.-based Consumer Technology Association (CTA).
Released last week, CTA’s 6th Annual Canadian Consumer Technology Ownership and Market Potential Study also indicates consumer intent to buy tech products in the next 12 months is 5% higher than this time last year, with TVs, smartphones and home video game consoles helping to drive the growth.
“More Canadians now see tech as essential — not only for working, learning and staying connected during the pandemic, but also for our post-pandemic lives,” said Steve Koenig, vice-president of research for the CTA, in a press release. “Tech has allowed people to remain healthy through telemedicine and online fitness services and be entertained during long periods of lockdown. Our new research shows that Canadians plan to keep using newly discovered technologies to improve their daily lives as we emerge from the pandemic.”
The CTA’s study was administered as an online survey to 2,004 Canadian adults between April 9 and 18, 2021. The report examines the household penetration rate of consumer technologies as well as purchasing intent for key consumer technology products.
Looking at home entertainment systems, TVs (90%), DVD/Blu-ray players (54%) and digital streaming devices (43%) are the most-frequently owned products in this category, according to the CTA’s survey. Fifty percent of Canadian homes have a 4K Ultra HD TV, which is a 14-point increase from 2020, marking the largest growth for any product included in the research.
In addition, 49% of Canadian homes say they now own a videogame console (up 10.7% from last year), and 18% of households plan to buy one in the next 12 months (a 25% jump from 2020), according to the study.
“With Canadians at home more than ever over the past year, purchases were focused on enhancing their experience indoors. For the second year in a row, smart speakers lead the smart home category — 36% of homes now own a smart speaker, and 17% plan to buy one in the next year. Smart light bulbs and smart appliances, at 19% and 18% respectively, are the second-most frequently owned smart home tech,” reads the CTA’s press release announcing highlights from the report.
The CTA’s survey also found the pandemic helped speed adoption of health and wellness technologies and services. Sixteen percent of Canadian homes now have smart or connected health monitoring devices and 11% have connected sports or fitness equipment (up four points from 2020).
“Both smartwatches (25% ownership) and wearable activity fitness trackers (28%) showed year-over-year growth. Looking forward, first-time buyers slightly prefer smartwatches over activity trackers (47% vs. 44%, respectively), indicating new buyers seek functions beyond the capabilities of a wearable fitness tracker, such as enhanced health monitoring apps and productivity tools,” says the press release.
The complete study is available for free for CTA member companies or for purchase at CTA.tech/research.
