EXCLUSIVE: Small domestic appliances experienced the largest decline of all consumer appliance goods when sales crashed 8.9 per cent claims GFK. Contributing to the fall in sales was a mild start to winter for heating products. Q3 is looking no better.
On the plus side the popularity of cooking shows, led to an increase of 8.3 per cent in value sales for the food preparation category, one of the only significant categories within this sector to have experienced growth said GFK.
All major domestic appliance categories experienced decline said the German research Company who also claimed that ” While some discounting has taken place in these markets, the decline is more a reflection of the economic mood, rather than competitive retailer activity.”
Among the worst hit were dryers which experienced a decrease of 22 per cent; partly a result of a drier than normal June across almost all of Australia, making it the continent’s fourth-driest June on record.
They said that in Q3 2010 there was unlikely to be any growth in this category despite interest rates back at a more ‘normal’ level.
A major contributor to flat sales in Q3 is the Federal Election which GFK said will to dominate the third quarter.
“The continued introduction of new technologies” may help minimise the decline GFK claimed.
