Energy efficiency as a selling point
GfK Retail and Technology international survey on the importance of the energy efficiency of TV appliances
Nuremberg, October 23, 2008 – Aside from the price, screen size and picture quality, energy efficiency is becoming an increasingly important factor when buying a television. These are the findings of an international consumer retail survey conducted by GfK Retail and Technology on “energy efficiency as a decisive factor when buying a television”. Energy efficiency has long been a decisive factor when it comes to purchasing a new refrigerator. When buying a new television, however, the use of the TV’s stand-by mode has been given the most attention up to now, if at all. This changed drastically with the introduction of bigger and better equipped TVs, with higher energy consumption. Most manufacturers have reduced the energy consumption of the stand-by function, so that it constitutes just a fraction of the total energy consumption of a TV. Electricity consumption during normal operation is now a higher priority for consumers than the amount of power used by the stand-by mode.
In five European countries – France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK – 74% of respondents consider this factor as important at the least, and 36% as extremely important. Energy consumption during normal operation is therefore just as important as the screen size when it comes to consumers making a purchase decision. However, there are significant differences between the countries when it comes to the importance of individual criteria.
The energy consumption of a television can make a huge impact on the electricity bill. For example, when comparing two similar 42” plasma TVs, the energy efficient one consumes 215 watts, whilst the conventional set consumes 380 watts. Based on an average of four hours usage per day, the energy-saving TV costs around EUR 60 a year in electricity, whilst the operating cost of the other TV is around EUR 110 per year.
An increasing number of specialist electrical retailers state that customers actively broach the issue of energy efficiency when considering the purchase of a new TV. In the five abovementioned European countries, two out of three specialists report that customers address this issue themselves. Here too, however, there are considerable differences between countries. Whilst in Spain, up to now hardly any consumers are interested in the energy consumption of consumer electronics products, this very often plays a decisive role for the French and also the Germans. It is particularly worth noting that in countries where customers on the whole very rarely broach the issue of energy efficiency, specialist retailers are all the more active in bringing up the subject themselves.
The survey
The consumer retail survey was carried out in April/May 2008 in France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK. Amongst other things, it provides answers to the following questions: What percentage of households own electrical equipment with LCD and/or plasma TVs in the individual countries? What are the most important decision criteria when buying a TV? How important do consumers deem energy consumption of TV sets compared to refrigerators, washing machines, etc.? Do retailers make a concerted effort to approach the subject of energy efficiency – and if so, for which product groups and how do they go about it? 3879 consumers and 355 specialist electrical retailers from the five EU countries were surveyed.
Further information:
Ingo Holzer, tel: +49 911-395-3121, ingo.holzer@gfk.com.
The GfK Group
The GfK Group is the No. 4 market research organization worldwide. Its activities cover the three business sectors of Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The Group has 115 companies covering over 100 countries. Of around 10,000 employees (as of September 30, 2008), 80% are based outside Germany. For further information, visit our website: www.gfk.com
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