Holiday sales failed to reach expectations, especially for smaller sizes

Menlo Park, CA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 02/26/2008 -- Pacific Media Associates, the global market information experts on large-screen displays, reports that inventories of consumer flat panel televisions at North American distributors rose 68% in January over December’s levels. Their Flat Panel Display Distributor Tracking Service report for January 2008 also shows that distributor sales of HDTVs fell 37%.

“These results are in sharp contrast with the January 2007 results,” according to Rosemary Abowd, Vice President with Pacific Media. “Last January saw a 18% increase in unit sales over December 2006, and inventories declined 7% over that period. This year’s results run in the opposite direction.”

The inventory logjam was most pronounced in the 30” to 34” range, which represents the majority of the most affordable HDTV models. Inventory levels more than tripled in January, in spite of a 55% increase in sales. Abowd points out “Distributors were able to move considerably more of these products in January than in December, but far more units had been ordered than could be sold. It appears that many of the consumers who were the targets for these products kept their money in their pockets. Higher food and energy prices, tighter credit, and uncertainty about jobs and the economy were likely the main factors.”

Abowd continues, “We also see some evidence that January distributor inventory levels were boosted by manufacturers handing off stocks that they had failed to sell directly to major retailers during the holiday buying season. These remaindered units will likely push the average street price down for this segment in the coming months.”

Based on the unit sales of consumer HDTVs by distributors in January, Sony earned a first place position with 35% unit market share. Viewsonic was second with a 21% unit market share.

Note: Data cited here is based on a sample of distributors, and is subject to sampling error.

About Pacific Media Associates
Pacific Media specializes in global display market information, covering all large-screen display categories: front projectors, plasma and LCD TVs, and rear-projection displays. Their Large-Screen Displays Industry Service family of publications provides detailed worldwide quarterly updates (sell-in data and forecasts) on large-screen display markets, newsletters on new products and other key industry developments, monthly advertised price tracking, ad hoc analyses, and annual Web surveys of North American end users (including organizations and individual consumers) and both North American and EMEA resellers/retailers. Their Large-Screen Displays Tracking Service family of monthly reports offers timely sell-through data and analysis on unit sales, true volume-weighted street prices, and inventories of large-screen displays sold by leading North American retailers, resellers, and distributors. Pacific Media Associates was established by Dr. William Coggshall, who was previously a co-founder of Dataquest and helped start the syndicated high-tech market information business. The company headquarters is at 1060 Siskiyou Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Telephone +1 650-561-9020 http://www.pacificmediaassociates.com

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