Sales of drones soared by 91 per cent in May, according to leading technology and electricals retailer Argos, as the devices dominated the headlines when new drone flying legislation was introduced.
Argos’s first ever ‘Year in Tech’ revealed the rise, which today unveils the tech trends that have swept the nation over the past twelve months. Argos analysed a year’s worth of sales data to uncover the trends that have influenced UK shoppers’ buying behaviour.
Over the past 12 months, drone sales have taken off, soaring by 20 per cent year-on-year. The drone trend is prevalent across the country but sales were highest in South Wales (20 per cent year-on-year), making it the drone capital of the UK, closely followed by London (15 per cent year-on-year).
The data has also revealed that drones are one of just two tech product areas where men buy more than women. Women buy the most tech at Argos (53 per cent vs. 47 per cent of men) except when it comes to drones (45 per cent of women vs. 55 per cent of men) and smart home tech (41 per cent of women vs. 59 per cent of men).
While demand for drones has risen, this year Argos has seen sales of cameras drop by 12 per cent year-on-year, with a decline of 32 per cent year-on-year in the capital. Argos experts attribute this to the increasing quality of smart phone cameras and to customers choosing to take more dramatic images from a drone’s eye view, rather than capturing shots with traditional cameras.
Serena Faruque, Drone Buying Manager at Argos, said: “We saw a huge spike in demand for drones in May which we believe was influenced by new legislation around drones dominating the headlines and the summer kicking off in earnest.
“While sales of drones have risen, sales of cameras have fallen which we see as being linked both to the evolution of smart phone cameras and to the appeal of capturing aerial shots with drones. We believe our customers are now choosing to capture their holiday pictures from their ever-present mobiles and from the air in order to make them as shareable as possible for their Instagram feeds.”
A ‘Year in Tech’
‘A Year in Tech’, from Argos, part of the Sainsbury’s Group, today reveals how the nation has shopped for tech over a twelve-month period. From the explosion in demand for smart speakers and drones to the drop in popularity of tablets and e-readers, ‘A Year in Tech’ reveals what’s hot and what’s not in the world of technology.
The data has shown that gen X (45-54 year olds) buys the most tech (23 per cent), closely followed by baby boomers (over 55s) and midults (35-44 year olds at 22 per cent) with millennials spending the least on tech (14 per cent for 18–24 year-olds and 19 per cent for 25-34 year olds).
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-drone-laws-bring-added-protection-for-passengers
