Help
QUOTE
This holiday season, retailers may have no choice but to resort to aggressive pricing, especially on low-end TVs, as they try various strategies to draw more people into the stores.
The price cutting could begin before Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when stores offer one-day bargains. According to DisplaySearch, a market research firm, prices could go as low as $400 for a 32-inch LCD, and $600 for a 42-inch plasma set — about $200 off current prices.
While Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics, said his company will not match those prices, he said, “those numbers do not shock me.”
“The watchword everyone has is uncertainty,” said Stephen Baker, vice president for industry analysis at the NPD Group, a market research firm that owns DisplaySearch.
Consumers hoping to pick up a Blu-ray player at a rock-bottom price will probably be out of luck. To squeeze out additional profits, prices will not drop much lower than $250 this season, Mr. Baker said. “There is not enough demand for Blu-ray to grow its installed base. Look to Christmas 2009 for aggressive pricing.”
Even with better value for money, the question remains whether consumers will even venture into the stores to look. “People are afraid to spend money,” Mr. Baker said, and there is not a lot one can do to stimulate demand.
It is clear that the consumer electronics industry has already slowed drastically. According to Paul Semenza, senior vice president of DisplaySearch, unit sales in the United States of LCD TVs increased 22 percent in September compared with the same month in 2007; but that was less than the 28 percent increase in August, and July’s 32 percent gain.
On a weekly basis, year-over-year sales increased just 3 percent for the week that ended Oct. 18, compared with an 18 percent gain for the week that ended Sept. 20. (The data does not include sales in Wal-Mart and club stores like Costco.)
Nevertheless, some of the manufacturers are hoping for the best. “In past recessions, consumer electronics has fared rather well,” said Mr. Glasgow of Sony. “I believe we’ll sell more TVs than last year.”
Bob Perry, Panasonic’s senior vice president for marketing, concurred. “We’ve been through wars and national calamities,” he said. “I just don’t see sales dropping off.”
The price cutting could begin before Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when stores offer one-day bargains. According to DisplaySearch, a market research firm, prices could go as low as $400 for a 32-inch LCD, and $600 for a 42-inch plasma set — about $200 off current prices.
While Stan Glasgow, president of Sony Electronics, said his company will not match those prices, he said, “those numbers do not shock me.”
“The watchword everyone has is uncertainty,” said Stephen Baker, vice president for industry analysis at the NPD Group, a market research firm that owns DisplaySearch.
Consumers hoping to pick up a Blu-ray player at a rock-bottom price will probably be out of luck. To squeeze out additional profits, prices will not drop much lower than $250 this season, Mr. Baker said. “There is not enough demand for Blu-ray to grow its installed base. Look to Christmas 2009 for aggressive pricing.”
Even with better value for money, the question remains whether consumers will even venture into the stores to look. “People are afraid to spend money,” Mr. Baker said, and there is not a lot one can do to stimulate demand.
It is clear that the consumer electronics industry has already slowed drastically. According to Paul Semenza, senior vice president of DisplaySearch, unit sales in the United States of LCD TVs increased 22 percent in September compared with the same month in 2007; but that was less than the 28 percent increase in August, and July’s 32 percent gain.
On a weekly basis, year-over-year sales increased just 3 percent for the week that ended Oct. 18, compared with an 18 percent gain for the week that ended Sept. 20. (The data does not include sales in Wal-Mart and club stores like Costco.)
Nevertheless, some of the manufacturers are hoping for the best. “In past recessions, consumer electronics has fared rather well,” said Mr. Glasgow of Sony. “I believe we’ll sell more TVs than last year.”
Bob Perry, Panasonic’s senior vice president for marketing, concurred. “We’ve been through wars and national calamities,” he said. “I just don’t see sales dropping off.”
Plasma
