A new report from the NPD Group reveals that drone sales more than doubled (up 117% to be exact) from February 2016 to February 2017. That’s a big jump, clearly showing the strength of consumers drones in the market. These sales numbers include the a wide variety of drones from $50 mini-drones (which are really just toys) to the $3,000 DJI Inspire 2.
Here are some useful tidbits from the NPD report:
- During the holiday season drones with a price tag between $50- $100 saw a significant uptick in sales.
- For drones in the $300-$500 price range, there is a clear consumer demand for premium features.
- Drones with auto pilot capabilities sold nearly five times more quickly.
- Drones that feature follow mode functionality sold 19x more quickly.
- During the first two months of 2017…
- Drones with a price tag over $300 drove 84% of dollar sales and nearly 40% of unit sales.
- Drones sold for $1,000+ saw the highest rate of sales.
In roughly the same time period from January 2016 to January 2017 the number of drones registered with the FAA when up by 123%. And according to the numbers in the last two months over 100,000 more drones have been registered with the FAA.