The continuation of very mild winter weather resulted in a 1.9% decline for small domestic appliances (SDA). Heavy promotional activity by key brands resulted in significant volume and value growth in the major appliances market. GFK said that for a sector such as MDA ,promotion activities can only generate a finite number of sales in any given period. Peaks in transactions usually lead to corresponding slumps shortly thereafter, they also claimed that September sales were low – a trend that was further exacerbated by the disruption of the federal election. However an ongoing focus on higher-capacity and higher-end products helped to minimise the impact of monthly fluctuations. The average price of refrigerators increased, due to the increased share of French door and bottom mount segments. In washing machines, the overall average price held steady due to an increase in front loaders, and 8kg capacity products. Cooking segments also continued to perform strongly, although overall average prices did soften in this quarter. The small domestic appliances market which consists of 30+ segments, varied with vacuum cleaners (29% of the sector’s revenue) experiencing another quarter of solid double-digit value growth. GFK said that this growth was driven by robotic, handsticks and upright cleaners – products that command a significantly higher average price than traditional canister products. Shavers, food preparation, juicers and well-being also delivered significant value growth, electric and non-electric heating, electric blankets, hot beverage makers and kettles all experienced a decline in sales due to a mild winter, the overall decline was 1.4%. |
