Demand for consumer electronics won’t let up anytime soon. Growth in consumer electronic sales is projected to soar 16% to $15.5 billion in 2007, according to the Consumer Electronics Association’s (CEA) semi-annual U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts Report.
This year, sales of factory-to-dealer consumer electronics are expected to fuel the overall growth, reaching $140 billion in 2006, an 8% spike over 2005, the CEA said.
“The mid-year numbers show continued robust growth in the [consumer electronics] industry, category to category,” said CEA President and CEO Gary Shapiro in a statement. “Consumers are embracing new technologies in this digital age, as they make new or upgrade purchases for the home, the car, the office or anywhere.”
TV displays continue to be the front-runner in the industry with revenues reaching $19 billion in 2005 and projected to exceed $22 billion in 2006.
“Replacement and upgrade purchases continue to drive the display market while prices continue to fall,” said CEA Director of Industry Analysis Sean Wargo in a statement. “As consumers prepare for the transition to digital television, we will see more of the shipment volumes move to digital displays as analog sets’ days are increasingly numbered.”
Arlington, VA-based CEA projects the DVD market is poised for resurgence over the coming years as two newer technologies, DVD recorders and high-definition DVDs, become widely available. With declining prices, shipments are expected to exceed 7 million units this year. Added to the fuel are high resolution DVD players in both Blu-ray and HD-DVD formats— entrants to the market this year. Although initial product delays have reduced volume, shipments of home component models should reach more than 1 million units next year.
For the audio market, MP3 players remain the shining star with a forecasted 33 million units to ship this year, representing $5 billion dollars in sales. Additionally, one of the biggest benefactors from the MP3 phenomenon is the accessories market. Headphones, docks, speakers and carrying cases are expected to grow 30% this year, Wargo said. A new generation of consoles later this year, the maturation of the Xbox 360 and the release of Sony’s Playstation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii, all spell boom for the video gaming category. CEA forecasts total gaming shipments, including both hardware and software, will reach $12.5 billion this year.
Meanwhile, this year’s revenues in the mobile video and portable navigation category are expected to top $2.3 billion — 21% higher than CEA previously forecasted in the January edition of the Sales and Forecasts Report. Navigation products were responsible for over half of that total growth.
The growth this year and next follows CEA market research which shows that electronic sales in 2005 reached $128 billion, an 11% climb over 2004.
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