Consumers shift focus from camcorders to digicams

Suvi Dogra at India-based Business Standard has an interesting article on the Indian market trend. Check the full article for more.

Consumers in India appear to be shifting their focus from camcorders to digital still cameras. Camcorder sales remained flat in 2008, recording single-digit growth rates, according to industry estimates.

As opposed to this, digital still cameras grew by nearly 40 per cent and the category is likely to maintain a growth rate of around 25 per cent this year.

The reason for the shift is simple. In a slowing economy, consumers appear to be looking for reliable yet inexpensive products to fulfil their digital needs. Digital still cameras incorporate high-end technology, allow for shorter films and, yet, are cheaper than camcorders, reasons an industry observer.

“The digital still camera is growing rapidly in the Indian market and taking share from the digital camcorder market based on its compact form factor, improvements in recording capabilities like zoom, editing software, etc, and the consumer preference for carrying a single image capturing device,” explained R Zutshi, deputy managing director, Samsung India.

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Via Business Standard India