Over the first six months of 2022, television sales fell by 15% in volume in France. The last quarter promises to be more prolific, with several commercial highlights.
Usually, the years when major sports competitions take place, such as the Olympics and the FIFA World Cup, are conducive to a boom in TV sales. It is however the soup with the grimace for the moment whereas the “global football” will start in Qatar in less than three months.
Admittedly, this major competition will take place later than usual, between November and December, but the trend is clearly not good at the moment. Over the first six months of the year, French television sales fell by 15% in volume, leading to a similar drop in sector revenues (-14%) between January and June, according to figures from the GfK firm released by The echoes.
Massively equipped consumers in 2020
This negative first half comes in the wake of a previous year which also proved disappointing, with sales down 16% compared to 2020, to 4.1 million units sold, still according to GfK. Even the Euro football championship, postponed for a year because of the Covid-19, had not saved the day, with only 50,000 additional sales recorded on the sidelines of the competition, against 200,000 on average for such events. sportsmen.
It must be said that 2021 followed an exceptional year for the sector, with sales boosted by the health crisis. During periods of confinement, consumers in search of entertainment did not hesitate to put their hands in their wallets to offer themselves a better television experience at home. The 2020 financial year thus ended with 5 million TVs sold for a turnover of more than 2.3 billion euros, an increase of 16%.
Black Friday, World Cup and Christmas in the last quarter
These figures are today dreaming of the actors of the sector, who nevertheless place a lot of hopes in the last quarter of 2022. And for good reason, the period between October and December will concentrate several key moments, namely the Football World Cup, the Black Friday and the holiday season. Over the past three months, Samsung, LG, TCL and even Hisense should have a field day offering enticing promotions designed to win over consumers.
The last quarter therefore promises to be much better than the first three, insofar as a major football competition can generate between 300,000 and 500,000 additional sales over a year in France, according to GfK. Therefore, the firm expects sales up 10% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2021.
However, the 5 million models sold in 2020, or even the 4.1 million units sold in 2021 will remain a distant dream in 2022. For the current year, GfK is not betting on more than 3.5 million sales in France. The fault is a demand that has fallen after the spectacular surge in 2020 and consumer purchasing power that is increasingly stifled by inflation. However, with the French increasingly favoring larger televisions, the impact should be less violent on the sector’s turnover. The average sale price now stands at €551, up €95 over one year, according to GfK. This rise is expected to continue with a lingering shortage of semiconductors.