GPS Devices

by | Sep 10, 2019

GPS Devices

55.3% of respondents have never owned a GPS device (personal navigation device), representing the 6th largest untapped market of any of the 16 devices studied in a Researchscape survey of 1,000 consumers.

Purchase Interest

30.1% of respondents were “very interested” or “extremely interested” in purchasing a GPS device. People interested in GPS devices are most likely to also be interested in digital photo frames (0.299 correlation), digital cameras with video (0.298 correlation) and portable DVD players (0.263 correlation).

GPS devices are a category that doesn’t benefit from device substitution: only 0.2% of respondents would replace a broken device from a different category with a GPS device.

6.2% of respondents without a GPS device said it was the device they didn’t own that they were most interested in purchasing. Of all respondents, 4.0% identified GPS devices as the device they were most interested in purchasing, the 9th highest interest level. Respondents were interested in getting a GPS for use when traveling, to keep from getting lost or because they were moving (or recently had moved) to a new city.

  • For traveling (mentioned by 10 respondents):
    • “I believe a GPS device would be very helpful when taking trips in my car.”
    • “I like to do some traveling on vacation, and this would make it easier.”
    • “I like to travel and want to know how to get to places.”
  • To stop getting lost (mentioned by 9 respondents):
    • “I have a terrible sense of direction, and would like it to help me go places.”
    • “I’m horrible with directions, and I get lost easily.”
    • “When traveling I get lost easily. I have no sense of direction so a GPS would suit my traveling needs.”
  • Moving to a new city (mentioned by 4 respondents):
    • “I could use it when I am away at college to get better acquainted with the area and to find my way around.”
    • “I am soon moving to another city.”
  • Instead of using cellphone GPS (mentioned by 3 respondents):
    • “It would be nice to not have to use my phone for a GPS.”
    • “We’ll be moving cross country by car next year. A GPS other than that on my phone would be good to have.”
    • “We travel a lot, so it would be nice to be able to have directions at our fingertips. Husband has a phone that has a GPS on it, but it eats up a lot of battery very quickly.”
  • Rather than print out directions (mentioned by 3 respondents):
    • “So I don’t have to always print out directions.”
    • “I am interested in this device because it will help on the spot–when you are looking for an address and don’t have directions or a map on hand.”
    • “It would be nice to be able to find things easier and get directions without having to ask people or look it up on Google maps before I leave the house.”
  • Borrowed one and liked it (mentioned by 2 respondents):
    • “It was interesting when I borrowed one.”
    • “I recently borrowed a GPS device and found it extremely useful.”

Current Ownership

36% of respondents currently own a GPS device, the 8th highest ownership rate of the 16 devices studied.

15.8% no longer use the device, an average rate of lapsed usage: 46% of owners reported using their GPS device frequently.

In a separate survey of 400 consumers, we asked respondents a hypothetical question: which devices would they purchase if they had lost all of their devices in a robbery and new purchases were covered by insurance? 45.2% of current owners were “very interested” or “extremely interested” in repurchasing a GPS device.

GPS devices are the 5th least valued of devices: 18.4% of owners said it was the device that they were least interested in replacing if it broke.

Past Ownership

8.7% of respondents have owned a GPS device in the past but no longer do so, the 7th lowest rate of past ownership. This represents 19.5% of the group of current and former owners.

See Also