IPL, Ramadan and football spur demand for televisions
UAE retailers report brisk TV sales in second quarter
TV sales are booming amid the Fifa World Cup and Indian Premier League (IPL), the CEO of Sharaf DG has said.
Nilesh Khalkho told Gulf News that TV sales had picked up considerably over the past few weeks — first due to the IPL, then Ramadan and now with football.
“In the preceding months, sales were declining but we have seen them moving up towards a positive trend compared to 2017 which is a good sign,” he said.
The World Cup runs from June 14 to July 15 in Russia. Four Arab countries — Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Saudi Arabia — are taking part this year.
Julian Lee, an analyst at TrendForce, said global branded TV shipments are expected to reach 217 million units for 2018, a year-on-year growth of three per cent.
“The TV industry last year was largely influenced by the tight supply of TV panels. The soaring prices of TV panels in the first half of last year significantly dampened the profitability of TV vendors, as the result, the shipments of branded TVs recorded 210.6 million units, a new low since 2014,” he said.
Niranjan Gidwani, CEO of Eros Group, said that the IPL did not have much impact but the last three weeks saw an upsurge in sales of 55-inch TVs and above.
“We are seeing an increase of between 10 per cent and 12 per cent for the start of the second quarter when compared to the first quarter. The quarter is not yet finished,” he said.
Expecting 20% growth
He added sales of OLED (organic light-emitting diode) units had been good for the last six months or so and after Samsung adjusted their QLED prices, their uptake has been good over the last two months.
Shoji Ohama, head of TV marketing at Sony Middle East and Africa, said the football World Cup does spur big screen television sales, especially in the 55-inch and above segment.
“We are expecting more than 20 per cent year-on-year growth. Sony made a strong comeback in 2017 with a 69 per cent YoY growth in the 55-inch and above segment. We have seen that people are buying all the large screen sizes from 55-inch and above. In addition, in the 75-inch and above segment, we are seeing a huge spike in demand when it comes to YoY growth,” he said.
With the football broadcast available in 4K, Khalkho said Sharaf DG was focusing on models that are 4K enabled.