The consumer electronics market remains a bright spot in a lackluster economy – global spending is expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2012, up 5% from 2011 spending of $993 billion. LinkedIn members are at the cutting edge of consumer electronics trends, and for consumer electronics marketers, they represent a lucrative target audience.

1. Marketing Solutions
Reach Consumer Electronics
LINKEDIN MEMBERS ARE
Buyers with LinkedIn
LinkedIn Consumer Electronics Audience Study, Q4 2011
AFFLUENT
41% will spend more than $1,000
The consumer electronics market remains a bright spot in a lackluster
on consumer electronics products
economy – global spending is expected to exceed $1 trillion in 2012, up
in 2012
5% from 2011 spending of $993 billion.1 LinkedIn members are at the
cutting edge of consumer electronics trends, and for consumer electronics
INFLUENTIAL
Two-thirds say that other people marketers, they represent a lucrative target audience. We surveyed more
solicit their advice about electronics than 1,600 in the U.S. to discover if:
• Affluent LinkedIn members are willing to spend on quality products
QUALITY-DRIVEN
• They are sophisticated users of CE products
43% more likely than the average
adult to cite quality as a purchase • They influence others’ CE purchasing decisions
driver • They change CE buying habits when they change jobs
• They care more about productivity and efficiency, and less about
GADGET-SAVVY entertainment value
85% more likely to own or use a
tablet PC than the average adult
Affluent LinkedIn members are willing to spend more
for quality
To determine if LinkedIn members are likely to spend more on consumer
electronics and pay more for high quality, we compared their buying
habits to those of the U.S. general online population. Forty-one percent of
LinkedIn members plan to spend $1,000 or more on CE purchases in 2012,
compared to 29% of the general population. For every device
respondents were asked about – including digital cameras, smartphones,
and MP3 players – LinkedIn members ranked higher in ownership and
usage than the average online adult. For example, 77% of LinkedIn
members own or use a smartphone, compared to 51% of the general
online population. Forty percent own or use tablet PCs, compared to 22%
of the general online population.
LINKEDIN MEMBERS ARE WILLING TO SPEND
ESTIMATED SPEND ON CE IN 2012
LESS THAN 24%
$500 39%
$500 TO 35%
$999 33% LINKEDIN MEMBERS
ARE 25% MORE
$1000 OR 41% LIKELY TO SPEND
MORE 29% $500 OR MORE
LinkedIn Members General U.S. Online Population
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2. LINKEDIN MEMBERS LinkedIn members also show that quality matters more than price when
they make CE purchases. Compared to the U.S. general online population,
ARE SOPHISTICATED LinkedIn members are 18% less likely to cite price as a factor when buying
ABOUT CE smartphones, and 66% more likely to say that rich product features are
important to them.
21%
MORE LIKELY TO BE APPROACHED BY
LINKEDIN MEMBERS USE MULTIPLE DEVICES
OTHERS FOR ADVICE AND INFORMATION
ABOUT CONSUMER ELECTRONICS REGULARLY
DEVICES OWNED OR USED MONTHLY
80%
MORE LIKELY TO SHOP ON THEIR
84%
68%
79%
72%
79%
65%
77%
LinkedIn Members
General U.S. Online Population
SMARTPHONE THAN THE AVERAGE
51%
ONLINE ADULT
42% 40% 40%
53%
36% 34% 34%
32% 34%
29%
22% 21% 19%
MORE LIKELY THAN THE AVERAGE
ONLINE ADULT TO HAVE BLUETOOTH
IN THEIR CAR
DIGITAL HDTV MULTI SMART- BLU-RAY TABLET DIGITAL COLOR DIGITAL EREADER
CAMERA FUNCTION PHONE PC CAM- LASER SLR
PRINTER CORDER PRINTER CAMERA
Members own more devices and are sophisticated
users of CE
LinkedIn members are eager to use their CE devices in new ways, and
have enthusiastically adopted mobile products such as smartphones and
tablets. They are more likely to use these devices for shopping, social
networking, and research – both at home and at the office. Tablets have
become a popular purchase for LinkedIn members: They are 85% more
likely to own or use a tablet PC than the average online adult. More than
two-thirds of LinkedIn members who own tablets use their tablets for both
business and personal activities, and nearly half take their tablets to
business meetings.
LinkedIn members are also significantly more active on their smartphones
than the average online adult; for instance, they are almost twice as likely
to have made a purchase with their phone, 209% more likely to have
scanned a QR code using their phone, and 208% more likely to have
accessed a document or file from their smartphones.
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3. Members influence others’ CE purchasing decisions LINKEDIN MEMBERS
LinkedIn members actively discuss consumer electronics preferences and CHOOSE EFFICIENCY
purchases with colleagues – and they themselves are strong influencers of
others’ CE buying decisions. Two-thirds of LinkedIn members say that other
OVER ENTERTAINMENT
COMPARED TO THE GENERAL POPULATION,
people solicit their advice about electronics, compared to slightly more MEMBERS ARE:
than half of the general online population. They also seek out advice:
65%
Ninety-two percent of LinkedIn members said they would listen to a
colleague’s recommendations for CE purchases, compared to 83% of the
general online population.
MORE LIKELY TO VALUE PRODUCTIVITY
Personal recommendations matter more to LinkedIn members considering
39%
a CE purchase than traditional marketing messages from TV, newspapers,
or magazines: They are 43% less likely than the general online population
to rely on television as an influential source of buying information.
MORE LIKELY TO VALUE EFFICIENCY
34%
When jobs change, CE product preferences change
When LinkedIn members change jobs – as did 27% of members surveyed –
they rethink their technology purchases and preferences, which means they
LESS LIKELY TO VALUE ENTERTAINMENT
may be open to new marketing messages about CE products. Of the
LinkedIn members who changed jobs in the past 12 months, 67% changed
their use of technology to support their career growth and business
responsibilities, and 52% changed their criteria for purchasing technology
and electronics. Almost a third of members who changed jobs also
changed the CE brands they would consider purchasing.
Productivity and efficiency are key drivers for CE purchases
When it comes to the impact of technology on their daily lives, LinkedIn
members place high value on their CE devices. Ninety-three percent of
LinkedIn members agree that technology helps them keep up with their
busy lives, compared with 81% of the general online population. LinkedIn
members are more likely to cite efficiency and productivity as key benefits
of their consumer electronics products – and conversely, they are much less
likely that the general online population to name entertainment as a key
benefit. LinkedIn members are also more than twice as likely as the average
online adult to say a smartphone that enhances productivity would get their
attention when shopping for a new device.
Advertise on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a powerful vehicle for consumer electronics marketers to reach
their target audience. Our marketing solutions provide advertisers with
the ability to target members based on their profile information, including
job title, job function, seniority, company name, company size, industry
and geography.

4. Methodology LINKEDIN MEMBER’S
LinkedIn’s 2012 Consumer Electronics Report was an online survey fielded CE WISH LIST FOR 2012
in December 2011. The 2012 Consumer Electronics Report is based on a
survey of 1,602 U.S. adults, including 801 active U.S. LinkedIn members
and 801 members of the U.S. general online population, recruited via 1. TABLET PC
sample partner Survey Sampling International (SSI). Results were weighted
to reflect the online U.S. population. All survey respondents own or use at
least one consumer electronics device or plan to purchase at least one such
device in the next year. For the purposes of this survey, “active” is defined
as a LinkedIn member who has visited LinkedIn at least once in the last 30
2. IPHONE
days. The demographics of the survey were representative of the broader
LinkedIn audience at the time the survey was conducted. A total of 801
LinkedIn members completed the survey, however, a number of analyses
focused on subsets of participants (n ~1,000). The margin of error on
reported percentages is +/- 2% for the entire sample and +/- 3% for
3. HDTV
subgroup analyses, assuming a 95% confidence level.
For more information
To learn more about the 2012 LinkedIn Consumer Electronics Report and
how you can tap into LinkedIn’s audience of affluent, influential,
hard-to-reach professionals, contact your LinkedIn Account Executive.
http://marketing.linkedin.com/contact
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“Global Consumer Tech Device Spending to Surpass $1 Trillion in 2012,” Consumer Electronics Association press
release, January 8, 2012.
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