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TFCinfo’s Annual Projector Brand Strength Report Highlights Winners And Improvements in the Projection Industry

TFCinfo today announced the release of its “Projector Brand Customer Perception and Preference Study 2018.” This report marks the 16th year that this annual projector brand benchmarking study has been conducted. TFCinfo’s report not only measures the strength of multimedia projector brands in the five most important market segments in the AV industry (large corporations, SMB-small and medium business, SOHU-small office/home user, education and government), but also analyzes important trends in customer perceptions which can have significant influence in their purchase decisions.

In this year’s installment Epson is a clear winner in the eyes of experienced projector end users and purchasers. Not only has Epson remained solid in their brand awareness and their image, but they are even continuing to improve upon many of their dominating scores. Other brands such as Sony, NEC, BenQ, Optoma, Panasonic, Hitachi and InFocus are noted for their strength and improvements in other key areas and market segments.

Awareness, Image and Intent are three main elements of brand strength that continuously need to be monitored. In this research, TFCinfo shows how individual brands perform on each of these important measures and in comparison to other brands. This allows readers to form a complete picture of where their brand is and where their brand needs to go to stay competitive.

Epson, Sony, NEC, BenQ and InFocus are the top five most recognized (aided awareness) projector brands in the industry overall. Epson has solidified their position and has a solid lead of at least 10 percent above the next highest ranked brand in every segment surveyed. While other brands may not have ranked among the top five overall, they post some of the strongest improvements and ranked among the top five in certain market segments. BenQ and Optoma are important to note on this measure as these brands have each increased their awareness as a projector brand greatly over the past few years. Optoma places among the top five for aided brand awareness among those in SMB and SOHU, while BenQ places among the top five among those in education, government and large corporations. Unaided free recall is another measurement this research analyzes and is extremely important to monitor to ensure that your brand comes to mind to be included in the important pre-purchase research.

Awareness for some brands, while still considered low in comparison to their position in total projector sales and current market share, have continued to show great improvement.

A clear picture is forming with regard to some of the most important projector purchasing factors and the brands that are being associated with them.  Some of the most important factors to look at when purchasing a projector are overall image quality, reliability/build quality and price. Experienced projector users and purchasers name Epson, Sony, Panasonic, NEC and Hitachi as the top brands they associate most with having an excellent image quality.

These same brands are also named as brands that represent projectors that offer superior reliability and build quality.  Respondents name BenQ, InFocus, Optoma, Dell, and Epson as the brands that offer the best price (value), while on the polar end Epson, Panasonic, Sony, NEC and Hitachi are named as offering a better investment (higher price/higher quality). This leaves Epson in a phenomenal position as end users are viewing the brand as both a great value and a high quality investment.

“Measuring brand strength and tracking your position in relation to your competitors is crucial in today’s projector market. Understanding customer perceptions, preferences and the factors that are driving their purchase decisions is critical to the brand management process and therefore to the growth and profitability of your brand,” states Tanya Lippke, TFCinfo director of survey market research. “These customer perceptions can have significant influence in their purchase decisions.”

Epson, Sony, NEC, BenQ, and Optoma are the top five brands being considered for purchase most overall, although some of these brands are being pushed by their dominance in particular market segments. Panasonic, InFocus, Viewsonic, Hitachi and Eiki hold their own on this measure posting some important consideration gains in certain market segments this year.

While Hitachi may not be one of the most considered brands for purchase, Hitachi has posted an increase in purchase consideration each year for the past six years now, and is high relative to their overall brand awareness.  BenQ and Optoma are also brands where their momentum cannot be ignored.  Both brands have done a great job with their awareness and image in this category and it shows. This yearly tracking study reveals that BenQ and Optoma have improved their numbers, gaining more than 25 percent in consideration each since 2013.

“Many brands post great scores this year, even some of the lesser known brands,” states Tanya Lippke, “In order for brands to turn this consideration into an actual purchase, consumers must have a clear understanding as to what your brand offers in correlation to the purchasing factors that are most important to them. This report reveals what messages the major brands are delivering and how these perceptions are affecting them in the market-place.”

Many brands were researched in-depth and each show significant strengths and weaknesses in certain areas. Brands that are analyzed in depth in this report include: BenQ, Dell, Dukane, Eiki, Epson, Hitachi, InFocus, NEC, Optoma, Panasonic, Runco, Sony and Viewsonic.

Here are the details.

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