Home Electronics market grows by 0.6% in 2019 – IT products, large and small domestic appliances with growth
Overall, the market for home electronics products (HE) grew by 0.6% in 2019, reaching a turnover of 42.6 billion Euro. This growth could be attributed to the good performance of two segments, private IT products, and large and small domestic appliances. Traditional consumer electronics and private telecommunications products declined during this period. The consumer electronics segment is expected to decrease by 5.6% to 8.8 billion Euro in 2019.
Domestic appliances recorded increased sales of 4.7%, reaching 14.9 billion Euro. The large domestic appliances product segment grey by 3.2 percent to 9 billion Euro in 2019. Sales of small dmoestic appliances were up again, with an increase of 7.1 % to almost 5.9 billion Euro.
Developments 2019
Smartphones stagnate, wearables increase
Although smartphones continued to drive the most sales in the consumer electronics segment, they declined in 2019. Sales fell by 3.5% to 10.9 billion Euro, with 22.1 million units sold (-4.2%). The average price of smartphones increased again in 2019 to 492 Euro (+0.7%). Wearables continued their strong growth in 2019. With a 36.5% increase in the number of devices sold to 5.6 million, sales reached 940 million Euro (+38.1%).
Strong sales of large screens – OLED and UHD segments continue to grow
Televisions account for the largest share of sales in consumer electronics, at 3.7 billion Euro. Compared to the previous year, sales were down by 9%. The trend towards larger screens and more modern features nevertheless continued in 2019. Televisions with screens of 45 inches (94cm) or larger account for the majority of sales – almost 73% – at just under 2.7 billion Euro. 88% of sales in 2019 were for ultra-high definition (UHD) televisions, with a screen resolution of 8 million pixels. The number of units sold increased by 20% to reach 4.4 million. In 2019, televisions using OLED technology generated sales of 571 million Euro, an increase of 11%, where the number of units sold rose by 26% to 306,000 units.
Soundbars, audio & video accessories, and DAB+ with positive growth
The soundbar segment continued to grow in 2019 as it had in previous years, showing a 12.8% increase in sales. With an increase of revenue by 13.2%, the number of units sold exceeded the one million mark (1.06 million units) for the first time. The audio & video accessories segment overall grew strongly with a 35.5% increase in sales to 1.38 billion Euro. A total of 14.6 million pairs of headphones were sold (+15%), reaching 932 million Euro (+61.2%). The new “wireless” models using Bluetooth technology are the main reason for this positive performance. Digital radio receivers (DAB+) saw a 6.6% increase in unit sales, reaching 1.5 million units in 2019, and 219 million Euro (+0.4%).
Growth for IT products
All three personal computer segments saw an increase in revenue in 2019. Tablet sales grew by 12.2% to 1.4 billion Euro, while the number of units sold fell to just under 4.1 million units. Almost 4 million notebooks (-0.4%) were sold in 2019, representing sales of 2.8 billion Euro, an increase of 2.5%. Desktop PCs achieved sales of 1 million units (+8.8%) and revenue of 824 billion (+9.2%).
Performance in 2020 dependent on external influences
“At the present time, it is not possible to make any serious predictions about the impact of the corona virus on globally networked supply chains and thus on the availability of products and the development of willingness to buy in Germany. As soon as these influences no longer exist, we believe that the conditions for a stable to slightly positive development at a high level are given for the home electronics market as we depict it in the HEMIX, due to innovative products, high consumer willingness to buy and the replacement demand for the current year”, explains Hans-Joachim Kamp.
The market figures for the HE sector are collected together by gfu Consumer & Home Electronics GmbH and GfK Retail and Technology GmbH for all market participants in the form of the official Home Electronics Market Index HEMIX and published for each quarter in cooperation with the German Association of Retail Technology (BVT). The HEMIX contains current market information from the sources of the competent partners involved
The HEMIX shows the market development in Germany on a quarterly basis, based on quantity and value. The home electronics market is firmly and uniformly defined as the sum of sales in Germany to private consumers.
The complete HEMIX data is available on the websites of the participating partners.
For further information please contact:
gfu Consumer & Home Electronics GmbH
Dr. Alexander Pett (Managing Director)
Phone +49 69 6302-219
Email: pett@gfu.de
Roland M. Stehle (Press and public relations)
Phone +49 911 377 79 00
E-Mail: stehle@gfu.de
Internet: www.gfu.de
GfK Retail and Technology GmbH
Andreas Peplinski
Phone +49 911 395–4802
Email: Andreas.Peplinski@gfk.com
Internet: www.gfk.com
Bundesverband Technik des Einzelhandels e.V. (BVT)
Steffen Kahnt (Managing Director)
Tel. +49 221 271 66–10
Joachim Dünkelmann (Deputy Managing Director)
Phone +49 221 271 66–14
Email: bvt@einzelhandel.de
Internet: www.bvt-ev.de