A new report just published by gfu indicates that the market for home electronics products, represented in the HEMIX, Home Electronics Market Index, was up 7.5% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year. In the months from January to March 2022, a total sales volume of almost €12bn was achieved.

The market figures for the HE industry are collected by the industry organisation gfu Consumer & Home Electronics GmbH and GfK together for all market participants in the form of the official Home Electronics Market Index HEMIX and published for each quarter. 

The HEMIX shows the quarterly market development in Germany based on volume and value. The home electronics market is defined firmly and uniformly as the sum of sales in Germany to private consumers. 

With sales of more than €7.5bn, the consumer electronics sector recorded an increase of 6.2% in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the same period of the previous year. 

The three CE segments developed very differently: consumer electronics recorded an increase of 4.2% to around two billion euros in sales. Telecommunications products used privately achieved sales of almost €3.5bn, with growth of 16.5%. The privately used IT products, on the other hand, were unable to continue the large sales growth of the last quarters with a minus of six percent to almost €2.1bn.

In the area of ​​consumer electronics, sales of €900m (+2.9%) were achieved with television sets in the first quarter of 2022, although the number of units sold fell by 10.3% to almost 1.3 million TV sets. In contrast, the average price of all TV sets sold rose by 14.7% to €702. The home audio segment recorded sales growth of 8.6% to €236m. This growth stems primarily from the Audio Home Systems and Loudspeaker Boxes product groups. With sales of $373m (+23.9%), the audio/video accessories product line also recorded an increase in sales. On the other hand, the video games consoles had to record a large decline in sales with a minus of 30% to €109m.

In the case of privately used telecommunications products, double-digit growth was seen in all sectors, with the exception of classic telephones. Core wearables, such as fitness trackers and smart watches, grew in sales by 18% to €319m. The number of items rose by 1.7% to more than 1.6 million. The average price also rose by 16% to €197. Thanks to an average price that continued to rise to €621 (+11.8%), the smartphone division recorded an increase in sales of 16.9 percent to more than €3.1bn in the first quarter of 2022. The number of units sold rose to around five million devices (+4.5%).

The product segments desktop PCs (-4.6%) and notebooks (-5.1%) as well as tablet PCs (-9.7%) recorded sales declines. Due to higher average prices in these segments, the drop in sales was less than the respective decrease in the number of units. The monitors also showed negative figures for sales (-5.3%) and number of items (-14.4%) with an increased average price (+10.7%). The remote working and distance learning investments that drove exceptional growth in previous quarters now appear to be complete.

Development in electrical household appliances

The two electrical household appliance segments were different again in the first quarter of 2022: Large electrical appliances achieved sales growth of 18.2% to almost €2.7bn. Small electrical appliances, on the other hand, recorded a drop of 0.7% to more than €1.7bn in sales.

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Photo – top of page – Scott Graham / Unsplash

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