Meko Press Releases |
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European Advanced TV Market Has Ups & Downs
DATE: 20th May 2004
Meko is in the process of finalising its latest advanced TV market survey and forecast and, in the course of compiling these reports, several interesting facts have come to light. The expected boom in sales of LCD TVs has yet to materialise. Or at least many vendors have been disappointed with sales compared to expectations, especially following what were bumper sales periods in Q4 2003 and Q1 2004. Despite significant advertising and other promotional activity on LCD TV, the A-brand suppliers (those that are best known in the TV market) have struggled to secure a transition from CRT to LCD, especially at the larger screen sizes, for main set purchases. Sales of smaller size sets remain good as buyers are finding homes for second, third or fourth TVs in rooms that are not the main TV viewing area. There is also a large disparity in pricing between the A-branded products and those supplied under B and C brands (these include retailers own-brands).For example, the Dixons Stores Group is currently supplying a Goodmans-branded 30" LCD TV in the UK for less than €1,950 including sales tax (€1,650 excluding); Medion's average price meanwhile is below €1,800, but the average price for a Sony set is €3,677 and a Sharp unit costs an average of €2,707 (all excluding tax). With the low price point set by Medion and the like, consumer expectation is that the A brands can surely follow and purchases are being delayed as a result. These expectations have not, as yet, been met however. Despite component price reductions, the A brands will always struggle to implement price cuts quickly due to the relatively complex sales channel that they choose to employ. On the one hand, independent retailers may prefer to try to retain additional sales margin, whilst the multiples will find it complex and difficult to secure stock price compensation or rebates. Those with a short supply chain and a fixed buying and selling window, such as Medion with Aldi, are able to provide the best price very quickly. Meko has cut back its forecast for the larger LCD TV set sizes as a result of this inertia in the market. However, overall LCD TV sales for Europe are expected to exceed 2.2m units in 2004. In the plasma sector, the competition has been hotting up as more and more brands enter the market. The Euro 2004 soccer tournament afforded a fantastic opportunity for additional sales and there were some real bargains to be had. At the low end, average pricing for a 42" 480-line now sits at the €2,500 level (excluding tax) with the lowest price (for a Daewoo-branded set) dipping to below €1,900 in June. Unlike the LCD sector, there is no significant shortage of any of the major components for plasma screens. This, combined with the continued ramp up of production capacity, ever-increasing yield rates and efficiencies, and a healthy demand, have driven prices down. In addition, the plasma makers are keen to defend their territory against the rise of the LCD TV and have moved to keep the price gap between the technologies as great as possible. On a global basis, a threat also exists from rear projection TVs and whilst Europe is not a big market for this type of set, the knock-on effect of more price cuts will benefit consumers here. Meko has not cut back its plasma TV forecast, but still remains perhaps more cautious than some analysts in terms of unit growth with an overall forecast of around 800,000 units for 2004. --- ends --- Notes to Editors: For more information about Meko and DisplayCast please contact Pete Gamby E-mail: peteg@meko.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)1276 22677 If you would like to receive press releases from Meko as soon as they are available, please send a blank email to: ListServer@meko.co.uk, with the subject line 'Subscribe MekoNews'. |