What They Say
The GfU put out its data (based on GfK & GfU sources) on the German CE market in the first half of 2021. The overall electronics market was up 7.4% to almost €22 billion with all segments positive. CE was €13.9 billion, up 5.7% with consumer IT up by 9.1% to €4.1 billion. Consumer communications were up 6.6% to €5.9 billion. Although entertainment segments were up overall, TVs were down 1.3% to €1.7 billion with units falling by 14.6% to just under 2.7 million. ASPs rose by 15% to €633 to keep revenue almost flat. Gaming consoles were up 38% to €264 million.
Wearables saw strong growth with almost 3.2 million units sold (+22.7%) and average prices up 10.7% to €182 so revenues were up by 35.8% to €581 million. Smartphone volumes dropped by 3.6% to 9.4 million, but ASPs rose by 8.5% to €522 so overall the value grew by 4.7% to €5.2 billion.
Consumer monitors were up 6.6% in volume and 14.2% in value. Tablets were up 55.2% in value and 47.2% in volume. Notebooks suffered with 16.6% drop in volume and 3.5% drop in value.
What We Think
The big question is whether volumes will continue to decline or whether there is a straight price elasticity curve in operation. Back in the day when I first developed a methodology for forecasting monitor sales, I found that an analysis of the value of the market was the key determinant of volume, rather than the other way around. (BR)
