LG Electronics who’s Scarlet HD TV has bombed in the Australian market is the only major TV vendor to have not revealed their new HD TV line up for the last quarter of 2008 which is traditionally the peak selling period for flat panel TV’s.
According to the latest GFK retail data the recently launch LG Scarlet HD TV has failed to attract the market share that LG was after despite a massive investment in both TV, print and web marketing. The Company also held a series of celebrity functions in an effort to fool consumers into believing that a new TV show called Scarlet was set to be launched in Australia.
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A major retailer who sold the Scarlet TV which came with a bright red back and big cosmetic hole in the front of the TV which could be used to switch the TV on and off said “We tried to ride off the back of the TV advertising but consumers in the end chose another brand over the Scarlet TV. Not only was the shape a problem but a lot of people were put off by the red back. In the end consumers gravitated to a more traditional flat panel design they said”.
A GFK exutive who did not want to be named said “The LG Scarlet TV has not sold well in the market. It was swamped by other brands and hevy promotions from the likes of Sony with their PS3 giveaway and promotions from Panasonic and Samsung”.
Prior to the roll out of the Scarlet TV ChannelNews predicted that LG would struggle due to most Australian’s shunning in favour of black, grey blue and white.
Many analysts are predicting that the flat panel TV will most likely continue its rapid growth during the coming years. Last week research Group iSuppli predicted that the sector could become the largest segment of the consumer-electronics industry by 2012.
Sherri Greenspan a senior analyst at iSuppli said that sales of HD LCD-TVs will rise to $110.8 billion in 2012, nearly double the $61 billion in 2007. In 2012, LCD-TV revenue will exceed that of consumer appliances, marking the first time that the vast appliance sector has not generated the most money in the consumer-electronics industry since iSuppli began collecting data on this market.
Currently, LCD-TV is the second largest revenue-generating segment of the 20 consumer-electronics product categories tracked by iSuppli.
TMC Online who attended a recent iSuppli forum reported “Consumers want their electronics, in good times and in bad,” Greenspan said. “Because of this, the consumer-electronics market will continue its incremental growth over the next four years, driven by LCD-TVs, along with consumer appliances, digital set-top boxes digital still cameras and video game consoles.”
In their press release iSuppli said that factors driving LCD-TV shipment growth include the global transition to digital broadcast, rapidly declining prices, and consumer preferences for high-definition displays and thin form-factor sets.
Greenspan added that global consumer-electronics OEM factory revenue rose by 2 percent in 2007 and is predicted to rise by another 6.5 percent in 2008. Corresponding with the rise of the LCD-TV market will be the expansion of the digital STB segment.
“Global digital STB factory revenue is expected to grow to $25.6 billion by 2012, rising at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 11 percent from $15.2 billion in 2007,” Greenspan stated. “Consumers continue to upgrade their televisions with new premium services, like high definition and Video on Demand (VoD), requiring new STBs.”
Shipments of STBs also will be driven by consumer demand for Digital Video Recording (DVR), which increasingly is becoming standard in set-top boxes, according to Greenspan.
Other areas of growth in the consumer-electronics market include digital still cameras, whose revenues will rise to $26.9 billion in 2012, expanding at a CAGR of 6.6 percent from $19.6 billion in 2007.
“Growing demand for the higher-priced digital SLR cameras is helping drive overall pricing up, as is continued consumer interest in higher resolution and video-capture capability,” Greenspan said.
Also on the rise are video-game-consoles, with revenue predicted to grow to $14 billion in 2012, rising at a CAGR of 5.9 percent from $10 billion in 2007. Mass market adoption, new game titles, accessories and price drops are helping drive demand, along with evolution of game consoles into media centres, Greenspan explained.
A large number of consumer electronics products are prime candidates to undergo a convergence of functionality, Greenspan stated. More than 800 million individual consumer electronics products shipped worldwide in 2008 could potentially be affected by some form of convergence, a number that will rise to 1.2 billion by 2012.
