More Than Six Million Consumers Interested in PCs for $999

The first-time PC buyers market is not dead; judging from the results of a recent survey conducted by Computer Retail Week and The Verity Group, it was merely sitting out a bargain. About one-third of the respondents from households without a computer said they had heard of full-featured PCs being introduced at prices around $1,000, and 12 percent of those people said that they were more likely to purchase a computer if such a system were available.

"The finding suggests more than just the fact that the first-time buyer market is not dead, as had been reported by other research firms," Computer Retail Week Editorial Research Director Roger Lanctot said. "Here's an indication that the market may well be stimulated by the availability of new, lower-cost systems."

Responses were split evenly between men and women, with younger respondents and those in the $15K to $24.9K annual income range being the most likely to be more interested in buying a computer if a $1K PC were available. "Twelve percent of the 60 percent of U.S. households that do not currently own a personal computer represents more than six million potential customers that are test-driving the hard drives of $999 PCs in the coming weeks," Lanctot said.

Additional findings reveal the following:

Age: more than one-quarter of the respondents in the 26- to 35-year-old age group said they would be more likely to purchase a PC if it were available for less than $1K, and 28.6 percent of the respondents who were under 25 years old indicated a similar inclination. Just 7.3 percent of respondents between the ages of 36 and 55 responded that they would be more likely to make such a purchase, as did 5.4 percent of respondents 56 years old or older. Awareness of the availability of PCs for less than $1K was highest among younger people.

Income: One-quarter of respondents in the $15 - $24.9K income category said they would be more likely to buy a computer now that $1K computers were available, while only 6.1 percent of households earning less than $15K annually showed a similar interest. About 14 percent of households with between $25K and $49.9K in annual income, and 18.8 percent of households earning $50K annually or more, indicated a greater interest in such a purchase. Awareness of PCs for less than $1K was greater in higher-income households than in lower-income households.

Computer Retail Week and the Verity Group are participating in a series of consumer intent-to-purchase surveys. "These barometers of projected buying habits are designed to provide members of the channel -- buyers, retail sales associates, vendors, advertisers and marketers -- with critical information they can use to get a jump on the market," Lanctot said. The most recent survey results are posted in the Research section of the Computer Retail Week Web site, CRWi, at http://www.crw.com/.

The Computer Retail Week/Verity Group $999 PC Survey was conducted by telephone in March, 1997. In all, 327 households participated in the survey, which has a margin of error of plus or minus four percent.

Computer Retail Week is one of the leading newspapers for technology retailers. Each week, it provides critical information about new alliances, technologies and products for a wide audience of computer hardware and software retailers, mass merchants, software specialty stores and other Channel members. For the past seven years, Computer Retail Week has delivered breaking news weekly, and those stories are posted on the Computer Retail Week home page.

CMP Media Inc. provides publishing, marketing and information services to the broad high-technology spectrum -- the builders, sellers and users of technology -- through print and electronic media. All of CMP's publications and online products can be accessed through the company's TechWeb® site on the World Wide Web (http://www.techweb.com/). Along with Computer Retail Week, print titles include EE Times, Computer Reseller News, InformationWeek, and Windows Magazine.

-0- 4/24/97

SOURCE: CMP Media Inc.

CONTACT: Leslie Dunbar of CMP Media, 516-562-7040 or ldunbar(at)cmp.com