Among Southeast Asian countries: Phl posts fastest growth in flat panel TV sales

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines recorded the fastest growth in flat panel TV (television) sales in Southeast Asia in the first 11 months of last year amid the constant evolution and innovation in the world of TV technology.

Regional research firm GfK said demand for flat panel TVs surged 26 percent to 8.3 million from January to November last year as constant evolution and innovation successfully fueled consumer demand and driving consistent growth in the industry over the last few years.

“The developing countries are getting more exposed to the advantages of this newer TV technology and its consumers are increasingly demanding for it,” GfK Asia account director for digital technology Gerard Tan said.

Data showed that the Philippines posted the fastest growth in volume sales for flat panel TVs with 70 percent, followed closely by Indonesia with 67 percent, Malaysia with 17 percent, and Thailand with 10 percent.

On the other hand, Singapore recorded a negative 19 percent growth in the volume of flat panel TV sales while Vietnam registered a decline of four percent.

GfK said LCD is the most sought after TV type across the region, making up more than nine out of 10 sets purchased by Southeast Asian consumers.

Tan said Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia registered 10 percent to 70 percent spike in sales quantity of LCD TV in the respective countries.

“The total LCD TV market across the region increased by 13 percent over last year, spurred largely by the strong demand of LED TVs which contributed to a significant chunk of the LCD TV pie,” Tan said.

Indonesia is the largest and also fastest growing market, thanks to the population’s ongoing high rate of conversion from the traditional CRT TV. Nearly 2.9 million sets of LCD TVs were sold in January to November or about 68 percent more than a year ago.

In the Singapore market, GfK said 77 percent of all flat panel TVs sold were LED TVs with the rest being Plasma TVs.

“Consumers in the region are willing to splurge on TVs, having spent over $3 billion on LCD TVs last year—13 percent more compared to the year before. One of the key drivers of the strong sales is greater affordability due to price erosion attributed to keen competition among major brands, and the introduction of more advanced technologies, for instance, Internet-content, 3D etc,” Tan explained.

According to findings, Internet-content and 3D TVs are progressively gaining grounds with all the six markets reflecting sales growth. While one in every ten sets of TV sold in the region last year had the Internet content feature, 3D TVs formed around 7 percent of all flat screen TV sales.

“The latest cutting edge TV technologies introduced by major brands are the 4K and LED TVs which received much attention during the recent Consumer Electronics Show,” he added.

For 2013, he pointed out that the overall TV market in Southeast Asia would remain buoyant amid the cautious economic outlook in the region.

 â€œHowever, with the current economic outlook in the region, consumers are likely to be exercising more caution in spending on big ticket items such as these upmarket TVs. Nevertheless, we foresee the overall TV market to continue remaining buoyant in 2013, attributable to the continued switchover process in the developing markets,” he said.