New research has revealed that a staggering 81% of consumers cite price as the most influential factor when buying technology products.

EML Wildfire surveyed over 2,000 UK adults and found technical specifications to be the second consideration when buying consumer tech devices (67%), followed by compatibility (46%), and look and feel (41%).

The survey showed that loyalty to tech brands is diminishing with just 12% of respondents citing this as a reason for purchasing.

In terms of purchasing influence, the research found that advice from friends and family was the key decider (52%), followed by reading user reviews on retail sites (51%) and seeking opinion on forums and online communities to sanity check purchasing decisions (33%).

Debby Penton, director at EML Wildfire, said: “The 'pre-shopping' experience is evolving as fast as technology itself, providing new sources of info for consumers' decisions and new opportunities for businesses that hope to influence them.

“However, it all comes down to one constant: understanding those audiences and communicating with them through the channels that they trust most, whatever shape those take.”