The GfU in Germany has published its latest Hemix (home electronics) index, an extension of the previous Cemix index to now include electrical appliances and small appliances. I the first quarter of 2017, business was up 3.1% on the year ago number with positive development in most areas.
Developments in Consumer Electronics
The consumer electronics business developed positively in the first quarter of 2017 with a sales growth of 3.1% compared to the previous year’s quarter to just under 7.3 billion Euro. The Entertainment electronics segments
(+ 11.9%) and private telecommunications (+ 5.0%) increased in sales but there was a decline of 10.6% in consumer IT.
TV receivers generated sales of almost €1.1 billion (+ 10.0%) in the first quarter of 2017. The number of units sold rose by 9.2% to just under 1.9 million. Due to the conversion of DVB-T broadcasting in Germany to DVB-T2 HD, set-top boxes were able to record exceptional growth. Sales of €203 million (+ 273%) include close to two million sold set-top boxes (+ 202%). In the area of digital cameras, higher-value products led to a turnover increase of 1.8% to €212 million, despite a smaller number of units (- 21.0%). In the Home Audio segment, sales were lower for the first time since 2013 (- 2.4%). The product segments audio / video accessories (sales + 16.5%) and Videogames consoles (sales + 36.7%, unit + 50.3%) developed very positively.
Smartphones (sales + 4.3%, number of units – 2.3%) and the core wearables (sales + 35.1%, unit + 24.6%) were responsible for the increase in the year-on-year comparison ,
The decline in sales was not halted for the consumer IT products. All three divisions of the PCs (total – 11.8%) and Recording Media (- 14.4%) were down.
Analyst Comment
The report can be downloaded here.
