Brits are Europe's biggest gadget buyers - official
UK second only to US
Brits spent so much of their cash on electronics last year that the total amount of discretionary income splurged on technology in the UK ranked worldwide second only to the US.
The UK loves its gadgets
According to figures released by market watcher Euromonitor, the UK’s gadget-obsessed masses spent $44.3bn (£24bn/€31bn) on electronics products in 2007. Unsurprisingly, US consumers' spending was a much larger, totaling $162bn (£81bn/€105bn).
It’s worth noting that despite the noticeable financial gap between the US and the UK, there’s also a sizeable gap between the UK and the rest of the world.
For example, Germany comes in third place with a total spend on electronics of $30bn (£15bn/€22bn) during the same 12 months. France and Russia took fourth and fifth positions, with purchases of electronic goodies totalling $27.1bn and $24.5bn, respectively.
Japan’s tech-obsessed residents only spent $17.7bn (£10.1bn/€12.7bn) on electronics, but did splash out $275.8bn (£137bn/€190bn) on simply having fun.
Euromonitor’s figures don’t give any insight into which gadgets each country's consumers favoured, such as TVs in Taiwan or DVD players in Denmark. But it’s worth noting that the electronics sales figures don’t include mobile phone sales.
Finally, it's good to know there’s one category of goods on which the British spent more than electronics: good old fags and booze, on which we spent a mighty $60bn (£34bn/€43bn) of our discretionary income last year. Hic!
COMMENTS
@ Or, to put it into perspective
You believe statistics from the CIA?
There's a job for you in government!
@ Alan Riaso
"I think we both know Japan and maybe China would come before the UK"
Yeah, they have no stamina in east asia... :D
And I agree about the prices, we pay FAR too much for things in the UK. However, I personaly doubt our spend would decrease if costs came down. We would just buy more.
i wonder...
"the British spent more than electronics: good old fags and booze, on which we spent a mighty $60bn (£34bn/€43bn)"
I wonder how much we spend on "controlled substances", which are, in some cases, far easier to get than beer and fags!
Whingers...
...not that I don't like paying less for my goods but to tell you the truth, we aren't the most ripped off in Europe. I travel to Spain quite a lot (other half is Spanish) and there they don't really have *national* electrical chains. That might seem like more competition but what actually happens is that they don't have the buying power, or don't stock what you want (have to order it), so they have little incentive to discount.
Couple to this that the Spanish earn less yet pay EXACTLY the same RRP as the UK (in Euros) and Spanish electronics are pretty expensive. Thank the lord for sites like Ebuyer, Dabs and Play etc. ;-)
That's my 2p.
If you look at the graph...
Some un-named Scandinavian country (Sweden?) spends more than $1000 per head, so they are the winners on per-capita spending.
So, if we are being ripped off, they are being royally ripped off.
