Short throw no short-term sell

Fellows: Short-throw projection is on the rise

Changing working practices and budgets have resulted in a need for greater flexibility in the office. When this involves sharing digital information, the need for projectors and other audiovisual equipment increases.

The third quarter in 2008 saw total UK projector sales exceed 50,000 units ­ up 38 per cent on the same period last year. Value was just shy of £28m, an increase of 19 per cent on 2007.

Yet while businesses may aspire to equip all their meeting rooms with fully fledged audiovisual suites, in the current economic climate that may be only a pipe dream.
Many meeting rooms are simply too small to deploy a traditional projector.

With a workforce becoming mobile and adopting increasing numbers of
laptops, netbooks and smartphones, business technology is becoming more
flexible generally.

Portable data projectors in the mobile workplace can be incredibly advantageous, especially the new generation of short-throw projectors. A short-throw projector is defined by GfK as one able to produce an image larger than 1.5m from a distance of less than 100cm.

Space constraints
With the benefit of portability and the added bonus of being less reliant on having boardroom-sized meeting rooms in which to present, the flexibility of short-throw
projectors appeals greatly to a number of 21st century businesses.

This also has benefits in the home as living rooms shrink, meaning space for large screen televisions is limited.

Recent GfK figures show that the volumes of short-throw projectors sold are indeed on the rise, with growth increasing month by month. In September 2008, 2.3 per cent of all projectors sold in the UK were short-throw models.

Interestingly, this growth is fuelled by new LCD projectors, with 5.6 per cent of all LCD projectors sold in September being short-throw models, compared with DLP models, which contributed to only a 0.2 per cent share of sales in the same period.

This goes completely against the trend if one looks at the prevalent projector
technologies overall.

DLP projectors, which took the greatest share at 61 per cent by volume in September 2008, have grown massively from their position 12 months ago when they accounted for just 43 per cent of volume sales and LCD projectors
dominated the market.

Consumer sales
Adoption of short-throw projectors in the consumer channels is yet to be felt, probably because of the high average selling price.

Price elasticity of demand is less within a business than in the consumer market. Consequently, the average consumer is unlikely to see the benefits as long as they can buy a large-screen television for less.

Nevertheless, a fall in price by a couple of hundred pounds in this price-competitive market could see the adoption rate rise in the consumer channels.

Sean Fellows is account manager at GfK