Consumer confidence toward tech spending rose slightly in April, according to the latest data released today by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA). This is the third consecutive month that consumer tech sentiment has risen.
The CTA Index of Consumer Technology Expectations (ICTE), which measures consumer expectations about technology spending, increased 0.7 points to reach 87.1 in April
“Consumer sentiment toward technology spending continues to move higher in Q1,” said Shawn DuBravac, Ph.D., chief economist, Consumer Technology Association. “While consumer spending on durable goods slipped in recent months, year-over-year growth in tech spending has been accelerating. The ability of this trend to continue will increasingly depend on adoption of emerging categories, such as smartwatches and smart home devices.”
Forthcoming results from CTA’s 18th Annual Consumer Technology Ownership and Market Potential Study find eight percent of American households now own a smartwatch. According to other CTA research, smartwatch sales are expected to increase 28 percent to 13.6 million units, earning $3.7 billion in revenue, an increase of 22 percent this year.
More information on the growing purchase interest for other emerging categories is available at CTA.tech/salesandforecasts.
The CTA Index of Consumer Expectations (ICE), which measures consumer sentiment about the U.S. economy as a whole, dipped 4.4 points in April to 174.3.
“Consumer confidence toward the overall economy dropped this month, as a number of economic indicators, such as housing, retail, and industrial production, point to a continued economic slowdown in the U.S.,” DuBravac said.
The CTA Indexes are updated on a monthly basis through consumer surveys. New data is released on the fourth Tuesday of each month. Find current and past indexes, charts, methodology and future release dates on the CTA Indexes page.
