Marketing Forecast from Ad-ology

Late last month, I blogged about IDC’s forecast on the rising sales and marketing budgets for IT vendors. Industry leaders noted that businesses often purchase more equipment and services as the end of the calendar year approaches. Another study by Spiceworks indicates that industry optimism this year is spreading to the small and medium sized business (SMB) sector as well.

The U.S. imaging market is growing despite the overall consumer technology market showing flat revenue, as high-definition video is quickly becoming an integral part of camera functionality, according to The NPD Group’s Retail Tracking Service. In August 2010, 43% of all point-and-shoot camera units sold and 65% of all detachable lens units sold had HD video capabilities. Among recent digital camera buyers surveyed for NPD’s annual Recent Digital Camera Buyer Behavior Study, 35% reported that their digital camera had become their sole video capture device.

The communications industry continues to boom as consumers use their mobile devices for everything from text messaging to watching video. At the same time, the increasingly complex devices are befuddling consumers who want the most up-to-date gadgets. To maintain strong positive relationships with customers, at least one advisory company is recommending that communications retailers reach out through traditional retail store fronts.

In a recent blog post, I highlighted a comment made by Mark Wilson, Sybase, regarding 4th quarter optimism for the B2B software industry. There’s reason to believe this optimism extends to all vendors of information technology (IT) products. The International Data Corporation (IDC) Executive Advisory Group issued its most recent forecast last week and is expecting improvement in IT vendor marketing and sales budgets for the rest of the year.

Small TVs got a boost last June when the government mandate to switch to digital broadcasting took effect, but a year later, amidst a stronger economy, sales of smaller TVs have slowed as consumers are exploring bigger screens and advanced features, according to leading market research company The NPD Group. Sales of 19″ to 37″ flat-panel TVs in the U.S. were down 21% year-over-year in June according to NPD’s Retail Tracking Service. As prices continue to drop and consumer interest turns to connected televisions, LED backlighting, and 3D – features that are more likely to be prominent in larger sets – consumers are trading up for larger TV screens.

As the IPO market starts to show signs of life, investors and marketers will be closely watching what happens with Skype’s planned offering. The company filed its S-1 form earlier this month. Skype is yet another player in the online universe with plans to make money by convincing consumers and businesses to upgrade from the free services they’ve been enjoying. In this case, it’s all about expanding its user base and getting them to pay for features such as ‘group video calling’. And yes, there’s another plan to make money – advertising.