LCD Monitors

Samsung breasts the tape by a comfortable margin ahead of second placed HP. LG is at number 3 followed by IBM and Sony. Compared to last year, LG improves its position from number four to number three. Philips drops off the Users' Choice Club.

You would remember that two years back, this category used to be generic monitors. We converted it to LCD monitors, given the rise in popularity of LCDs. The last year has seen an increase in the offtake of LCD monitors in the market and a number of new brands have also made their appearance. While the new brands when put together get more than 4% of the votes, none of them individually could cross that mark. So it is the tried and tested brands that again make it to the Users' Choice Club. Again, two brands, HP and IBM that are more known for systems as a whole than just for monitors continue to gain the confidence of users on the look out for LCD monitors. Last year we had asked the question whether these players would gain in the long run, over more traditional monitor vendors like Samsung and LG. Some indication of the answer can be found by reading the Users' Choice Index and the brand switch matrix together. If you look at the brand switch matrix for the last three years, there is no definitive evidence to such an eventuality. Both Samsung and LG, which had recorded reduced brand loyalty last year have bounced back this time around and improved their loyalty scores significantly. Samsung got its best scores in the BFSI segment, LG in BPO and HP-Compaq in communication and media. Samsung got more than a third of the votes polled in all the segments. If we were to look at it in terms of turnover, both potential Samsung and LG customers drop in the 100 to 500 crore range. Which geographies are more likely to buy LCD monitors? 

Brand Shift (%) 2003

South leads the list, followed by North in current ownership, while in purchase intent, North surges ahead of South. Strangely enough, in purchase intent, the western region lags behind by a good margin. In percentage terms, Samsung got the maximum support from the South and that is where LG turned out to be the weakest. LG got the maximum percentage of its support from respondents in the eastern region. The market is still in its infancy and that new players do have an opportunity to make it big. We do not see any change in that scenario. The market for LCD monitors has way to go ad we are seeing the newer players opting to take niche positions rather than go in for national brands. While this may be an extremely wise strategy, it would also mean that they would find it difficult to figure in the Users' Choice Club.