Pansonic has joined Sony by increasing the price of their consumer products range by an average of 9.5%. Blu-ray plays are up 10%, home appliances 8%, air conditioners 15%, and microwaves by 22%. Plasma and LCD TVs will rise by 9%. Just before Xmas Sony lifted prices by up to 30%..
The price rises are effective immediatly.
Paul Reid, Director, Consumer Electronics Group, Panasonic Australia, explained: “Panasonic’s Australian operation buys in Japanese yen and the US dollar, and the market has seen the Australian dollar weaken against these currencies by over 30 per cent since July 2008.
“As a result of these factors, prices are set to increase across the Australian consumer electronics marketplace in 2009. Panasonic Australia has worked closely with its Japanese parent company with the goal of minimising the impact to consumers and not passing on the full extent of the currency decline.”
As a result, from Feb 1 Panasonic expects to see an average increase on products in-market of 9.5 per cent, with the highest average increase in a single category being around 22 per cent.
Paul Reid added: “We have worked particularly hard to ensure that our popular Home Entertainment range remains as affordable as possible. For example, in our most popular category of Plasma and LCD panels, we expect to see an average increase of around 9 per cent on the current range, a figure lower than market predictions.”
Other Home Entertainment categories including DVD Recorders, Blu-ray Recorders, DVD players, Blu-ray players, home theatre systems and hi-fi products will also be affected, with an average price increase of approximately 10 per cent.
Average increases in the Home Appliance Range include 8 per cent for Room Air Conditioners (wall-mounted) and around 15 per cent for Packaged Air Conditioners (ducted systems). In addition, Microwaves will rise by an average of around 22 per cent and shavers by an average of 17 per cent.
“We have notified our consumer electronics retail partners today of the expected increases and will commence working with them to advise of the effect on individual models,” Paul Reid said.
