TV sets dominate sales of appliances
Greek households spent more than half a billion euros (510 million euros, to be exact) last year on the purchase of electrical goods, a survey by GFK Market Analysis shows. In total, 1,794,000 electrical products were sold in 2005, most of them television sets, DVD players and home stereo systems. One of the most important conclusions of the survey is the prominence that flat TV screens (Plasma, LCD and Rear Projection) now have, as the revenues from the 138,000 units sold came to 204.5 million euros, covering almost half of the entire turnover of the electrical goods market. Sales of conventional TV sets (CRT) reached 581,000 units and brought in revenues of 142.2 million euros, against 212 million euros in 2004. Therefore the total of TVs sold reached 719,330 units, with their total cost at 347 million euros. These figures seem to be even higher this year, as GFK expects 260,000 LCD TV sets to be sold, along with 26,000 Plasma TV sets, against 115,000 and 20,000 sets respectively in 2005. The sale of more than twice as many LCD sets in 2006 is mostly attributed to the soccer World Cup which took place in Germany this summer. The great number of offers by retail chains for LCD TV sets in the weeks prior to the start of the competition certainly boosted sales. In 2004 no more than 22,487 LCD TV sets had been sold, along with 12,280 Plasma sets. This illustrates the switch by more and more Greeks to new-technology television sets, bringing about an increase in this market’s turnover by 10.37 percent. LCD and Plasma set sales came to 199.4 million euros in 2005, from 88.76 million euros in 2004. The main reason for this development is the significant decline in prices of flat-screen TVs, a trend which is expected to continue this year, too, as manufacturers have invested in new factories and have managed to cover demand, which did not happen in the past. There were no surprises in figures about screen size: Anyone wanting screens of more than 40 inches turned to Plasma TV sets, which in the big-screen market take an 89.3 percent share according to sales. In contrast, LCD screens dominate the sizes sold between 26 and 32 inches, which take up 56.5 percent of total sales. Smaller sizes, of 20-21 inches, also have their share, as 26.9 percent of all units sold fell into that category. After TV sets, the most profitable category of electrical goods was DVD players and recorders, with 62.2 million euros, as 696,000 units were sold in 2005. They were followed by video camera recorders with revenues of 55 million euros from the sale of 95,000 units. Furthermore, 180,000 home entertainment systems were sold last year, costing 38.75 million euros.
