Western Europe CE market down 2.1% in 4Q 2014

Friday, February 27th, 2015
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Western Europe: Growing Technical Consumer Goods Market

  • Results GfK TEMAX® Western Europe – fourth quarter of 2014

NUREMBERG — In the fourth quarter of 2014, the Western European Technical Consumer Goods (TCG) market generated sales growth of 3.5 percent to reach approximately €60.5 billion. The whole of 2014 was also successful with a sales increase of 2.1 percent, and a total volume of nearly €201.2 billion. These are findings of the GfK TEMAX® Western Europe.

In terms of growth, the front runner was the Telecommunications sector. Smartphones remained the driving force of the market and accounted for double-digit growth rates in Q4 2014. However, this growth partly and negatively influenced sales in the Photography sector. In terms of individual countries, namely Belgium, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, the UK, and especially Greece developed positively.

Consumer Electronics: market recovery in 2014

In the fourth quarter of 2014, the Western European market for Consumer Electronics declined slightly – by 2.1 percent, compared to the same period of the previous year. Between October and December, the turnover amounted to €10 billion. Full year results were, however, positive with marginal growth of 0.6 percent and a total sales volume of €31.5 billion. Innovations helped to drive the TV market in 2014. UHD/4k with four times the resolution of full HD larger screens, and smart TVs, combined with an increasing availability of streaming content, drove sales. The audio market continued to grow – driven in particular by any wireless technology that could be used to transfer music to either speakers or headphones.

                               Q1      Q2      Q3      Q4   Q4 14    Q1-4   Q1-4 14
                             2014    2014    2014    2014  /Q4 13    2014  /Q1-4 13
                           ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  --------
                               €M      €M      €M      €M    +/-%      €M      +/-%
                           ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  ------  --------
Consumer Electronics (CE)   7,653   6,881   6,920  10,069   -2.1%  31,523      0.6%

Source: GfK TEMAX® Western Europe, GfK