This is additional time for TV merchants, the period that will define their season. After the exhilaration of record sales in 2021 (4.8 million units sold), the market woke up in 2022 with a serious hangover: -14% sales in volume and value since the start of the year, according to data from the GfK institute. “The backlash was to come after the mind-blowing levels of previous years and TVs are only renewed every 6 to 7 years anyway, compared to three for smartphones or ten years for a refrigerator”, summarizes Jérémy Barreau, TV Product Manager. at LG Electronics France.
The prospect of a World Cup in Qatar brightens the horizon at least in the short term. “It’s a real magic card to play for manufacturers because it represents 200,000 to 400,000 additional TVs sold compared to a year without this type of event”, points out Rémy Journé, TV and household appliance sales director for Hisense France. “Consumers have already started to buy in anticipation of this competition and have favored large sizes because it is an event that is watched by many and historically triggers the act of purchase before or during”, adds Guillaume Rault, vice- President of Samsung France, number 1 in sales in France.
Distributors need to sell off
The Black Friday shopping event (Friday November 25), which falls in full competition, should boost initial sales before Christmas fun shopping takes over. All the planets are aligned so that the end of the year benefits the barge in search of a new aircraft. Televisions were initially one of the few electronic goods spared from inflation with a price that increased by only 2% over one year according to data from UFC Que Choisir. “Planned TV stocks are high at the moment and competition is fierce, especially since brands, but especially distributors, play their year over two months,” explains Rémy Journé of Hisense France. And to predict: “This offers lower prices for the consumer and promotions that come out everywhere”.
“This fourth quarter is more strategic than other years because of several highlights in a row and it will have to smooth the decline in sales”, confirms Jérémy Barreau of LG France. “This is why there will be great offers on 2022 models and on the latest Oled TVs which are the top of the range less often on sale”, he anticipates. The best-selling models in France, with a 55-inch screen (139 cm diagonal), will be particularly to be scrutinized on the shelves as during online sales.
This proliferation of promotional offers could trigger a generational change towards 4K image quality and a thinner and more imposing screen because all renewals are now beyond the size of 32 inches (81 cm). The TVs sold for 5 years also have almost all Internet connectivity that has become essential for viewers who no longer want to submit to programming.
“The TV is no longer a simple glass slab in the living room which broadcasts what is happening but a window to unlimited content and cut out for everyone”, notes Sébastien Minaux, TV product manager at Sony France. The potential is there to replace an aging model. “Out of a park of nearly 50 million TVs in France, half are not connected or intelligent”, underlines Guillaume Rault, vice-president of Samsung France. “There are better technologies, especially in sound, and real progress has been made in energy consumption, which is optimized over the latest generations”, also weighs in with Sébastien Minaux from Sony France. Marketing and technological arguments that an entire industry would not want you to skip because it relies on them to limit damage.