Digital Cameras [Icons of Trust 2009]

By Team Digit | Updated on 10-Nov-2009

10-Nov-2009

Pointers for the shooters

With megapixel counts skyrocketing, prices falling, and consumers becoming more discerning, we expected this category to undergo quite a few changes from last year, and we weren’t very surprised with the results. For those of you who remember, last year, we were unable to separate Canon and Sony, with both brands winning our trust award. This year, we do have a single winner, but the difference is hardly much. Canon edges ahead of Sony by a whisker, to claim Digit’s 2009 Icon of Trust Award, for digital cameras.

Samsung seems to have the biggest loss, falling four places to seventh spot. Olympus, surprisingly jumps three spots ahead to end up at fourth. Nikon continues its steady climb by going from fourth last year to third this time. But that’s just the numbers, what does this all mean to us?

When it comes to top of mind, unaided recall, Canon was far ahead of the competition, which basically means that when most of us think digital cameras, we think Canon. Sony and Nikon were second and third, with almost equal top of mind recall amongst the respondents.

However, when it comes to unaided, overall recall – with a question that basically asks, “Can you name some digital camera brands?” – Nikon was surprisingly the leader of the pack, way ahead of the rest. This means that although most people say “Canon” at first thought, when prodded to think of more brands, more people were able to list Nikon than any of the other brands.

When it comes to aided recall, Sony is the winner, with Nikon a close second, and Canon soon after in third. What this means is that when people see the brands in front of them, almost everyone could recognise the names Sony, Nikon and Canon as digital camera greats. Overall, in terms of awareness, Canon was the ultimate winner here, with excellent top of mind recall. Sony and Nikon are not far behind, but the rest of the pack is sorely lagging – time to up those ad-spends boys, because people are forgetting about you, and fast.

Credibility was a much closer contest, again between Canon, Sony and Nikon. In every aspect of our questioning, it was really hard to tell these brands apart, with almost an equal number of respondents vouching for each of these three brands in every question. For innovativeness, however, Sony ruled, with more people feeling Sony’s innovativeness trumped Canon. When it came to ease of use, also, Sony and Canon (in that order) were quite a bit ahead of the rest (including Nikon).

When it came to satisfaction, Sony edged out Canon by a smidge, with Nikon coming in third. Availability seems to be key here, with most people feeling that Sony cameras were more available in stores, however, Canon seems to have just edged Sony in terms of availability of information about their cameras. Sony jumped ahead of Canon again, when it came to knowledge of sales people about the products, and also for ease of after sales service availability. The respondents felt that Canon was better than Sony at resolving queries, and faster at fixing problems — a nice area to win. Sony, however, thrashed the competition in terms of availability of a desired model in stores, with most people feeling that when they wanted to purchase a Sony camera, they were very likely to find it in a store near them.

As for brand loyalty, digital camera owners who had bought a Canon seemed quite loyal to the brand, with more people vowing to buy Canon again. Even when it came to recommendations, most people said they would recommend either of the top three – Canon, Nikon or Sony – which is something all three brands would like. Our question about buying from the same brand in different product categories threw up an almost-unanimous “Sony”. No surprises there. No surprise either that Samsung rose quickly to fill in third spot in the answers to the previous question. Overall though, it was Canon, Sony and Nikon (in that order) when it comes to brand loyalty.

When it comes to cost of ownership, Canon and Sony were the top two, indicating that they are sturdy, and people don’t spend too much on them after purchase. However, Kodak jumped up to secure third place ahead of Nikon, indicating that people felt that Nikon was less of a cost effective purchase.

In terms of overall trust, the big three in the camera markets seem to be duelling it out, and leaving the rest far behind.