Electronics market recovery is consistent in 2024
By Dan Lan
The recovery in the consumer electronics market, which began in the second half of 2023, looks like it’s here to stay. From January to May this year, sales rose 11% compared to the same period in 2023, reaching 776,000 units sold. The increase reached 6% in terms of turnover, to R$69.5 billion. The data is part of a survey carried out by NielsenIQ GfK exclusively for EletrolarShow 2024, which began on July 15 and runs until July 18 at the Transamerica Expo Center in São Paulo.
“The scenario only confirms that the upturn that began in June 2023 is consistent and will continue this year,” says Ricardo Moura, Director of Customer Success Tech & Durables at NielsenIQ GfK in Brazil. The drop in interest rates and the improvement in the job market have created a favorable environment for the purchase of durable goods, in the director’s opinion.
Some categories performed surprisingly well, such as refrigerators, whose sales rose 22% in units. Along with the growth in air-conditioning sales, driven by the strong heatwave of 2023, the white goods line was one of the categories that most boosted the sector’s turnover.
“But in fact, there was across-the-board growth in all five categories (white goods, brown goods, laptops, IT and telecom),” explains Moura.
Consumer preferences
The survey also showed that 48% of Brazilian consumers consider price to be the most important factor in their purchasing decision. But 36% are willing to pay more if the product makes their lives easier. Some 72%, however, say they prefer to wait until new technologies are proven to be effective before purchasing products.
Sales are growing in various regions of the country, but in the Northeast the average ticket is still lower, as the study shows.
The impact of e-commerce
The impact of e-commerce continues to be significant even after the pandemic, with marketplaces gaining relevance and occupying part of the physical sales space. “Sales through marketplaces fell in love with Brazilians after the pandemic, and continue to grow because they have the best prices and fast delivery, which is important for consumers,” says Moura. He adds, however, that physical stores are regaining importance in some categories such as white goods and cell phones, although the buying journey always begins online. “It’s what we call the ‘phigital’ journey. Because currently 38% of people only buy online, while 30% only shop in physical stores and 32% go to both channels,” explains the executive.
According to Moura, these changes in the sales scenario after the pandemic have made the consumer electronics market more complex. “That’s why it’s increasingly relevant to talk about retail distribution strategy, as has been done at Eletrolar.”
Tendency
The trend for the second half of the year is that growth won’t be as high, due to the stronger base for comparison. “In 2023, the first half was weaker, which is why growth was stronger, but in the second half sales were already up and this year shouldn’t be much higher,” says Moura. For him, although the seasonal dates are strong in the second half of the year, with Black Friday and Christmas, commerce will have the challenge of maintaining the strength it has seen since last year.
New benchmark
Sales of televisions, which have always been the keynote of the consumer electronics market, have remained stable at 11 million for some years now. However, the market now has a new public choice: the cell phone. Although the product is in demand, the price hasn’t risen and has remained stable. This is because demand is not as strong as it was during the pandemic. “Today we have a more balanced mix, with some products pulling their category. This is true of white goods, brown goods, technology and telecoms. In laptops, even with the strength of items like air fryers, the average ticket is lower.
