US December electronics sales.............................................
TV/VCR, PTV, C'cord Sales Hit Highs In '97
- -January 26, 1998
By Bob Gerson
Despite what can only be termed a near-disaster of a December, 1997 factory and distributor sales to dealers of TV/VCRs, projection TVs, VCR decks and camcorders all set new full-year records.
And while sales of direct-view color TVs tanked to a five-year low, it still was the sixth year in a row in which sales topped the 20 million mark, according to figures issued by CEMA.
How bad was the year's closing month? Sales were down from last year for all video products, with direct-view color sinking to a 12-year low and camcorder shipments dropping to a level not seen since 1986.
One bright spot was the comeback of DVD players, which had unit sales of 42,600 for the month and a quarterly total of 136,600 that was the best of the year. However, as already noted, the full-year total of 349,500 was below industry expectations.
In direct-view, color TV sales fell 22.9% to 1.79 million in December and ended the year at 21.3 million, down 4.9%. Also disappointing were the 9.9% fourth-quarter sales decline to 6.36 million and the first-half total's 5.7% slippage to 12.2 million.
While TV/VCRs ended the year at 2.31 million, up 5.1%, the 24.7% December falloff to 156,300 was no help in achieving that new annual high. The month's performance resulted in the quarter coming in down 6.2% to 663,000 and left the half at 1.3 million, down 1.6%.
For projection TV sales, which had been on a tear in 1997, December produced a disappointing 19.4% sales drop to just under 99,000. While sales for the year rose 3.4% to 917,400, and the second half had a 6.1% rise to 581,300, for two new records, the quarter's sales of 298,300 were down 4.4%.
The performance was strikingly similar for VCR sales, which saw new full-year and second-half records, as sales rose, respectively, 6.6% to 16.7 million and 4.4% to 9.6 million. But December sales fell 14.6% to 1.29 million, to leave the quarterly total at 4.76 million, down 1.4%.
As for camcorders, the only plus in the year-end report was the scant 0.4% full-year sales increase to a record 3.65 million. Sales for the month of 234,300 were down 25.6%, the quarter's total of 999,200 was off 7%, and the second half was off 3.1% to 1.95 million.
As for laserdisc players, the year ended as it started. December sales dropped 77.4% to just 3,300, and the year's total of 48,800 was down 68.5%. |
