CES 2019: Market for Tech Consumer Goods Exceeds the One-Trillion Mark

CES 2019: Market for Tech Consumer Goods Exceeds the One-Trillion Mark
Dražen Tomić - Tomich Productions

The global market for technical consumer goods (TCG) exceeded the one-trillion mark for the first time in 2018 with sales of €1.01 trillion, according to GfK. This is a 4% increase on the previous year. The product segments of telecommunications (+7%), small domestic appliances (+7%), consumer electronics/photo (+6%), and information technology/office equipment (+1%) all contributed to this growth in sales. Global sales from major domestic appliances, on the other hand, fell slightly by 1%. For 2019, GfK is expecting a 2% increase in technical consumer goods sales on the global market to around €1.03 trillion.

With a sales share of 42%, Asia-Pacific continued to defend its position on the technical consumer goods market in 2018 as well. A further 25% of sales was achieved in Europe, around 20% in North America, 7% in Latin America, and 6% in Middle East/Turkey/Africa.

With a sales share of 44% and a volume of around €440 billion, telecommunications is the biggest segment among technical consumer goods in 2018. Consumers now increasingly go for premium products, especially in the smartphone segment, which has enabled global sales to rise by a further 7%. However, the market is stagnating in terms of quantities sold. Notwithstanding Latin America (-5%), sales in 2018 increased worldwide, especially in Europe (+14%) and North America (+12%). However, GfK is not expecting to see any further growth in sales in 2019, but rather stable development at the same level as the previous year.

Major domestic appliances (MDA) continued to be the second-largest segment among technical consumer goods in 2018 with sales of around €177 billion, despite a slight decrease in sales of 1%. Overall, around 17% of all TCG sales last year was attributed to major domestic appliances such as refrigerators, ovens, washers or dishwashers. Currently trending are multi-function devices and connectivity. Sales in Latin America (+6%), Europe (+3%), and Asia/Pacific (+2%) developed positively last year. GfK is predicting further significant global growth in sales for 2019 of 6%, which will more than compensate for the slight losses from last year.

In 2018, consumers worldwide spent around €157 billion on IT and office equipment, as well as consumables, about as much as in the previous year. In the IT segment, there is currently a demand for high-performance devices, especially in the gaming PC and gaming notebook segment. While sales in Latin America and Asia/Pacific rose slightly in 2018, they stagnated in Europe and fell in Middle East/Turkey/Africa as well as in North America.

The office equipment and consumables segment recorded a positive development. Global sales in 2018 increased by 3% to around €16 billion, with growth primarily coming from Asia, and China in particular. In 2019, however, GfK is expecting to see a global decrease in sales of around 3% in the information technology/office equipment segment. Global sales in the consumer electronics and photo segment rose in 2018 by nearly 6% to €153 billion. This segment alone accounts for around 15% of all TCG sales.

There is also a trend for premium products in consumer electronics. High-end TV sets with screen sizes of at least 50" produced significant growth in sales. In the premium segment, OLED TV sets continue to increase in popularity. Headphones and portable Bluetooth speakers proved to be significant drivers of growth on the audio market. Sales of entertainment electronics developed particularly positively in Latin America (+24%). Sales in Asia/Pacific, Europe and Middle East/Turkey/Africa increased by between 4 and 5%.

The photo segment was not able to break its negative trend and lost a further 5% of sales in 2018. Globally, cameras and accessories achieved €15 billion in sales. Positive aspects set the tone for high-end cameras. In 2019, GfK expects to see slightly less growth in sales of around 4% on the global consumer electronics and photo market.

Small domestic appliances (SDA) achieved global sales of around €86 billion in 2018. This is a significant increase of 7%. Driven by very positive demand in China, sales in Asia/Pacific increased by 13% overall. In Latin America, as well as in Middle East/Turkey/Africa, sales grew by 10%, while growth in Europe was recorded at 7%. Only in North America did sales decrease slightly, by 2%. Consumers are continuing to focus on the issue of "convenience". Battery-powered handheld vacuum cleaners are particularly popular right now. GfK also sees upward trends for the global small domestic appliances market in 2019, and predicts sales growth of 8%.