OREANDA-NEWS.  August 21, 2012. This year's second quarter was marked by moderate growth (3%) and amounted to UAH 8.7 billion, reported the press-centre of GfK. 

These indices were due to a slight growth in the main sectors: Major Domestic Appliance (+3%), Information Technology (+3%) and Telecommunications (+5%). The market for office equipment decreased by 5%, and the one for small household appliances (which is the largest in terms of product groups monitored) experienced a 3% fall. The Consumer Electronics sector, continuing the negative trend started earlier this year, lost about 2% of sales. The only sector constantly booming is Photo. It showed an impressive 21% growth within the total market of household appliances and electronics.

Office equipment: decrease across the board

Q2 2012 was difficult for the office equipment market. Compared to the same quarter of 2011, sales to the end user went down by 11% resulting in UAH 191 m. All groups show a decline. Sales of the sector’s most significant group – Multifunctional Devices – contracted by 13% to a volume of UAH 114.8 m. Similar figures are shown for the market of printers:  -7% and UAH 69.5. Sales of scanners, the smallest segment of the office sector, also continue to decrease by 8% and amounted to UAH 6.9 m in Q2. Looking at the first half year, the results reflect the same trend -– minus 10% in value.

Small Domestic Appliances: slight revival for vacuum cleaner’s

Q2’s fall in sales of SDA (-9% compared to previous year) was significantly influenced by a weak first quarter. With the negative trend continuing in Q2 the sector declined – by 3% in monetary terms resulting in UAH 681 m.

The largest group of SDA, vacuum cleaners, seems to restore its positions compared to the relatively weak first quarter, so far, however, without showing any growth (-1%). Compared to the previous quarter the segment of washing vacuum cleaners has increased its share, whereas the demand in vacuum cleaners with a bag tends to decrease.

Bread makers and juice squeezers suffered the greatest losses both in terms of first quarter and half-year results with -32% and -14%, respectively. It seems that now a gradual decline in demand starts being visible. The market for bread makers is more and more saturated with the cheaper models that are distributed through promotions.

Coffee machines showed the strongest growth rates in the sector (+30% Q2 2012 vs, Q2 2011). Moreover the trend went towards espresso machines with full automatic type, which has become the most popular segment in this product group.

Consumer Electronics: Euro 2012 contributed to the growth of TV sets

As in Q1, Consumer Electronics sales dropped by 20% in Q2. Only three groups grew, namely, flat-panel TV sets, memory cards and USB-memory. The total sales volume of the Household Electronics market in the period April - June 2012 amounted to approximately UAH 1.35 billion.
The group of flat-panel TV sets showed the highest growth. Sales increased by 8%, were mainly driven by LCD TVs and due to the Football Championship, which took place in Ukraine during this period of time.

Due to a gradual decrease in average prices for LED TVs, their share is constantly increasing. This growth is also shown by a relatively new segment on the market - Smart TV. For home theaters the share of systems with 5 speakers and a subwoofer has been diminishing gradually over several periods, being the reason for the general decline of the market by 30%. The other two groups, which tend to grow, memory cards and USB-memory, increased by 4% and 1%, respectively. It is also worth noting that these products and the devices they are used with (camcorders and car DVD-players) are the only segments recording growth.

Major Domestic Appliance: positive second quarter did not save the half year

In Q2 the total sales volume for MDA grew by 3% compared to Q2 2011. For high-season products, namely, refrigerators and freezers, sales growth stood at 4% and 8%, respectively. Given that refrigerators is the largest group in the sector, its growth had a significant impact on the positive figures for the overall market of major household appliances.

In this quarter washing machines and dishwashers show equally good results: UAH sales worth 476 m and UAH 56 m, respectively. However, for the other groups of the sector, the situation is quite the opposite and marked by decline. Nonetheless, considering their small share within the sector, the effect on the general picture of the market was limited.

Negative developments are also seen for cooker hoods (-2%), cookers (-1%), microwave ovens (-7%) cooking surfaces (-6%), and tumble dryers (-7%).

Despite a small increase in the second quarter, the MDA market finished the half-year with a downturn of 4%.

Information Technology: moderate growth of the biggest sector

In the second quarter of 2012 the market of IT equipment increased by 3% compared to Q2 2011. This amounted to UAH 2.2 billion.

The lion's share fell to the segment of mobile computers (55% in monetary terms)with a volume of  UAH 1.24 billion (+4% on Q2 2011). With a 231% plus the market of web-books* is growing rapidly (UAH 166.1 million). The only segments, which fail to increase sales, are monitors and desktop computers (-14% and -25%, respectively).

Among Ukrainian readers, e-books are in high demand. Their sales grew by 36% (UAH 54.4 m). A small increase (7%) was reported for the market of keyboards. At the same time, the market of computer mice was twice as big as the market of keyboards (UAH 56.2 m) and, with plus 19%, is growing rapidly. Growth of drives (storage devices) was down to internal hard drives, while external ones lost ground.

Finally, when comparing half-years of 2012 and 2011, the market of IT-technologies proved to be more than successful: +12%.

*Web-books (by GFK classification) – portable devices with a diagonal of 5.6+ inches, mobile ОS and ARM processor (or alike).

Telecommunications: smartphones outdo mobilephones for the first time

In the second quarter of 2012 the sales of telecommunication devices amounted to UAH 1.7 billion.The volume of sold smartphones was UAH 883 m. This growth was accompanied by a decrease in average prices (without a reduction of functionality). Thus, smartphones compatible with the 3G standard have doubled their sales, the segment of phones with 5 and 8 Megapixel resolution has grown considerably. On the smartphone market, devices with two sim-cards are starting to show promising signs of growth.

Mobile phones are still a quite large segment of the market – 47% (UAH 826 m). Product prices tend to decrease. Most in demand among buyers are products with a slot for several sim-cards.

Stationary (fixed-line) phones have decreased by 20% in monetary terms compared to the same quarter of 2011. The market for fax machines is drastically losing volume: -22% compared to the second quarter of 2011, with a simultaneous increase in the average market price.

Photo: the only sector that shoots

In Q1 2012 Ukrainian consumers preferred more expensive SLR still cameras over ordinary "compact”. As a result, the market of cameras grew by 15% in monetary terms compared to Q2 2011 and amounted to UAH 807 m. System cameras, which appeared to replace inconvenient "DLRs”, are less popular among Ukrainian consumers, as, for example, Europeans. Compact Still Cameras are experiencing difficult times, since their sales have decreased drastically in Q2 2012 compared to Q2 2011.

First half-year 2012: Conclusions

The negative first quarter made an impact through a small decline of the market (0.6%) in the first half of the year and amounted to UAH 18.3 billion. Thanks only to the performance of IT and Photo a nearly growth neutral situation was reached for the overall market. Being the largest sector (UAH 5.2 billion) IT added a plus of 12% and Photo of even 15%.

As for other sectors, the figures are negative. After a long-lasting growth, the market for Consumer Electronics showed a 12% decline. The saturation of the market with the TVs, which led to a decrease of their sales, contributes strongly to this situation. Home Domestic is experiencing difficult times too – MDA lost 4%, SDA lost 9%. Telecom equipment sales remain almost at the same level, although with a slight minus (-2%). The market for Office Equipment has decreased by 4%.

The survey

GfK TEMAX® is an index developed by GfK Retail and Technology to track the technical consumer goods markets. The findings are based on surveys carried out on a regular basis by the retail panel of GfK Retail and Technology. The retail panel comprises data from over 370,000 retail outlets worldwide. Since February 2009, GfK Retail and Technology has also been compiling the GfK TEMAX® index at international level, in more than 30 countries. It is the first index that includes all of the markets for technical consumer goods in different countries. All reports and press releases are available at www.gfktemax.com.