Leveraging Consumer Valuation of LED Features

Research and Markets has announced the addition of "The Fast Track for LEDs into Large-Area LCDs: Leveraging Consumer Valuation of LED Features" to their offering.

What will consumers pay for the improved display features LED backlights bring to LCDs? Are the price premiums enough to pay the added costs? Are the price premiums modest enough to both attract early adopters and quickly build substantial sales in key LCD market sectors?

These are the critical questions answered in this report using a sophisticated analytical approach that relies on a statistical analysis of display market data.

Investment in LED technology has led to continued improvements in LED performance. Yet there is little market analysis that quantifies critical market issues:

• What will consumers pay for improved features?
• How do consumers value packages of features?
• How fast will consumers adopt the new technology?

For LEDs to penetrate large-area LCDs quickly marketeers must target the right applications with performance at the right price points. Both the cost/technical side and the price/marketing side of the equation must be understood.

The time-line for LEDs’ replacement of conventional CCFLs backlights is of critical importance not only to the LED industry, but also to the LCD backlight industry, LCD panel makers and display branders. The LED industry needs to follow a fast track path and command a significant share of backlight market in order to generate an acceptable return on the substantial investment in improving LED performance. For LCD backlight, module and display makers, the timing and magnitude of the roll out is also critical since the companies that can successfully lead the transition to LED backlighting will gain market share and improved competitiveness.

We have developed a methodology to answer the key marketing questions and balance the equation between cost and price. This report uses this methodology to find the fastest possible adoption path for LEDs in large-area LCD displays – the fast track. The methodology is broadly applicable to all display products and markets. We will continue to develop and enhance this methodology.

SCOPE AND QUESTIONS ADDRESSED

The study forecasts cost and performance improvements 2007-2011 as well as consumer value for the forecast performance improvements. The study forecasts winning illumination architectures within each market segment and recommends pricing to enable fastest market share penetration. The study addresses questions such as:

• What display improvements will consumers pay for?
• Which of these improvements can LEDs deliver?
• What level of improvement can each LED architecture deliver at what cost?
• What is each improved feature worth to consumers?
• What is the consumer perception of risk?
• How much faster will market share grow if the feature is priced lower?
• How much more will the consumer pay for the complete feature package delivered by each LED architecture?
• Which LED architecture offers the best value to consumers for each market segment?
• What consumer price premium provides the fastest possible profitable growth?
• What is the overall fast track for LEDs?

Illumination Architecture Scope. The following illumination architectures are included:

• Regular CCFL (baseline)
• Wide colour gamut CCFL
• Edge-lit white LEDs
• Edge-lit RGB LEDs
• Area RGB LEDs

Market Scope. Overall LCD panel demand, area demand for LED backlights and LED lamp demand for the fast track scenario for:

• Notebooks
• Monitors
• TVs

The above markets are segmented into four notebooks market segments, two monitor market segments and three TV market segments.