What They Say
The GfU in Germany published its overall Hemix Home Electronics Market Index for Q3 and said that it was up 6.9% on 2020. The cumulative value of the market was €33.4 billion for the year to the end of September. CE followed the trend and was up 5.8% (YTD) while ‘private IT’ was up 8.1% to more than €6 billion. Private telecomms were up by 7.1% at more than €9.1 billion, while home entertainment was up just 1.5% to €5.8 billion.
TV sales were flat in value for the year to September at €2.5 billion (-0.6%) while the volume fell by 14.9% to a total of just under 4 million sets. ASPs were up by 16.8% in Q3 to €649. Bigger sets and OLED sets were significant factors in boosting TV ASPs. Gaming consoles were up 59.5% to €455 million and 1.2 million units (up 23.8%). Again, ASPs were up to €374 and up 28.9%.
Notebook sales were down 3.6% in value and 14% in units and desktop PCs also dropped in volume by 5.9%. Tablets, on the other hand, saw strong growth of 46.9% in value and 37% in volume. Monitors were up 3.4% in volume and 10.6% in value.
Smartphone sales remained strong, up 5.5% to €8 billion although volume fell by 4.4% to around 14.6 million compared to the first three quarters of 2020.
What We Think
Obviously, the market is still settling after peak-Covid. Germany is seeing a peak in its infection rate and in total cases is now ahead of the UK, despite being less open. Austria and the Netherlands are also seeing increases in infections and the Netherlands has tightened restrictions again. However, with IBC due in December, the restrictions are expected to ease again in time for the event. (Update – we just got confirmation that IBC will go ahead) (BR)
