“TV Makers Predicting a Bright Future for 3-D Sets”

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/technology/23three.html?ref=sofawars

3D Televisions are expected to be the new hit in the tv marketing, succeeding the hype generated by HD Televisions. What would assist the 3D TV manufacturers in attracting consumers to buy into the new technology?

1. Need Recognition: Functional
   1. Being able to experience watching a movie as if in the theatre at home would be a incentive to purchase the TVs. Moreover, as indicated in the article, “professed early adopters” have already bought the first generation of 3D TVs despite the high price. Research also “shows that a quarter of consumers plan to buy a 3-D-enabled set in the next 12 months. (Among men 18 to 24, the rate is almost 40 percent, the firm said.)”
2. Factors Influencing the Consumer’s Search for Information
   1. As a TV is considered a big ticket item, people will generally take their time in searching for information; however, retailers generally allow in-store demonstrations and provide expert advice to customers to facilitate their shopping experience.

The in-store demonstrations will influence the consumer’s decision process psychologically, through learning. It affects both the consumers’ attitudes and perception. Cognitive – the consumers know that the 3D televisions are high-end technology and are of superior quality; affective – through watching the 3D tvs at the stores, the consumers would experience the thrill and excitement that they feel at theaters; behavioral – hopefully, the consumers will purchase the 3D tvs immediately after watching a movie with surround sound and real-life images.

Social Factors may also take part in spurring the 3D tv movement. Since “quarter of consumers plan to buy a 3-D-enabled set in the next 12 months,” the remaining consumers would follow suit and buy a set, depending on the reviews of their associates.

By 2014, we will know if Sony can once again regain its position as a leader in the TV market by being the foremost company to invest and promote this technology.