The ‘World Cup’ effect surfaces as average monthly sales jump in the last month leading up to the event
Every four years, a phenomenon takes place to coincide with the coming of a highly anticipated global sporting event— the FIFA World Cup. Retail sales tracking by leading global market research company revealed that more TV sets are being sold in every single market across the region in the month prior to the commencement of the game in June. GfK retail audit of TV sales for May 2014 reported nearly 957,000 units sold for the combined markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand.
According to reports, demand for TV in May this year surged significantly; by 15 percent more than the average sales volume achieved in the non-peak months of February, March and April for all markets in the range of 4 to 31 percent. Thailand showed the greatest spike, followed by 19 percent in Vietnam, and 16 percent in Singapore. It is worth mentioning that the 232,000 TV sets snapped up in Thailand in May was the highest monthly sales achieved by the market in 2014 so far.
“It is interesting to highlight that this trend of higher demand for TVs in the month leading to World Cup was also observed four years ago,” said Gerard Tan, Account Director for Digital World in GfK. “GfK’s weekly retail audit for TV sales further showed apparent spikes in take-up volume in various June weeks for Singapore, Vietnam, and Thailand to achieve the highest weekly sales since January.”
Overall TV sales in the region have slowed down after several years of rapid growth in developing markets where large number of households were upgrading to flat panel TV from the traditional CRT. With the near completion of the switchover, consumers are now focusing on new features and technology, as well as bigger screen sizes instead.
For instance, Internet-enabled TV is gaining share in Southeast Asia, accounting for 17 percent of all volume sales this year—an increment of 5 percent additional share of the pie from last year. Highest penetration for this technology segment is seen in Singapore, where it makes up more than half (56%) of TV sold. Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia reported over a fifth of the total local market sales volume coming from this segment, at 26, 22 and 21 percent respectively.
Sales penetration of 3D TVs have reached nearly 8 percent in the region. In Singapore, over one in every four (26%) sets of TV sold has 3D technology, while Thailand has the next highest share for local 3D TV sales at 12 percent. All other markets are still hovering below the 10 percent level for the segment.
In terms of screen sizes, consumers are also increasingly buying larger boxes for their homes. Still dominating the market is the 32” segment although its share has declined by 5 percent from last year to account for 41 percent share in volume terms in the first five months of this year. Findings in May showed a considerable growth in share of the 43”- 49” segment which saw a rise to almost 7 percent share—the highest so far this year.
“We expect the UHD models to be the next focus of the more affluent consumers who are looking to get their hands on the latest TV technology as prices become more affordable with more brands and models being launched in the market,” said Tan. “Events such as the World Cup has created more awareness for larger screen sizes and more advanced models, which will help drive the market in 2014—expected to remain an exciting year for TV,” he concluded.
