Public Embrace the Digital Age

Despite media scepticism, the British public are eagerly embracing the arrival of digital television. One in ten people expect to be among the first to get a digital receiver and a further one in five have decided to get one in six to twelve months' time. These findings come from research conducted this summer for the Consumer Electronic Access Study, a comprehensive project examining demand for home electronic access applications, a joint venture between MORI and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Digital television will attract a more upmarket audience than current satellite and cable stations. Men are also keener than women on going digital.

The majority plan to buy rather than rent decoders in order to access digital television. Just under two-thirds of these consumers will either buy a set top box for their existing television or buy a television with a built-in decoder.

Television is also emerging as the most popular platform overall for most interactive home electronic access applications covered in the survey including home banking, shopping, financial services and video on demand.

The uptake of television based services is likely to complement rather than replace the home computer and those with computers will continue to expand the number of applications they use. Indeed, among current computer users, the computer is the preferred platform for home banking and other financial services. However, interactive television is likely to dominate the market in the long-term.

While there is enthusiasm for many electronic access applications such as shopping, banking, information, entertainment and communications, consumers are looking for tangible benefits. These need to differentiate electronic access from conventional offerings, at a time of rising consumer expectations and increasing competition. For example, avoiding queuing used to be a strong reason for prefering to buy groceries electronically. In recent years the supermarkets have addressed this issue with faster checkouts. They also now offer more services to retain customer loyalty such as restaurants, dry cleaning, packing and home delivery.

The market is very discerning, according to MORI Director, Peter Hutton, many of the offerings could fall flat if they fail to recognise and exploit fully the real potential of interactive services.

Branding will also play a key role in driving uptake of these services. Some brands will be able to provide consumers with reassurance about quality of service, security and reliability of systems and commitment to rectifying mistakes.

Bill Bound, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers Management Consulting Services, said: "The change in consumer behaviour will strongly impact all our clients. The findings of the survey will address some of their concerns about the electronic channel and will help them recognise some of the issues they have not yet identified. We are very committed to preparing our clients for the digital revolution - in terms of what it means for them in both the consumer and business marketplace."

Over half of those surveyed, identified Marks & Spencer, Abbey National, Barclays Bank and Boots as among the organisations in which they would have a lot of confidence to provide interactive electronic access services to the home with a high level of quality and regard for security of personal details. Preceding its launch of a free internet access service, Dixons emerged as one of the least trusted brands.

Extensive consumer demand and supply side research have been combined to produce industry visions for 1999, 2003 and 2007, with recommendations for winning strategies for different sectors. The study is designed to provide senior executives with an authoritative and cost-effective basis for launching strategic initiatives and major investments.

Technical details

Initial qualitative research was undertaken by MORI including six focus groups and six depth interviews among target consumers in May 1998. Face-to-face quantitative interviews were conducted among a sample of 1,002 adults in August and September 1998. Supply side research was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers in August and September 1998.