Telecom Lead Asia-Pacific: Demand for tablets
continued to flourish at 75 percent incremental sales volume growth during
Thailand’s worst flood to reach over USD 50 million, according to the findings
of GfK Thailand.
TV is another popular device which thrived in the first
three months of the year, garnering around USD 244 million.
The market’s strong performance was mainly due to the
promotional efforts of manufacturers and retailers in bid to drive sales
especially during the upcoming festive period, but ultimately, can be
attributed to the pent-up consumer demand as a result of the months of
flooding,” said Wichit Purepong, general manager of GfK Thailand.
The study found that volume sales of products including
audio home system, televisions, washing machines, air conditioners and laptops
plunged by at least 25 percent compared to the previous month due to floods in
Thailand.
Within Thailand, we foresee continued strong performance
of the market into year end with key high growth products like tablets,
smartphones and TVs will be in the forefront and continue propelling the industry
to greater heights”, Wichit added.
During and after the 2011 flooding in Thailand, demand for audio home system by 35 percent,
trailed by televisions and washing machines which dipped 29 and 28 percent
respectively.
However, the recession of flood waters in the
following month of December saw an immediate resumption of market spending.
Latest findings for first quarter revealed double digit
negative growth in at least five product categories tracked by GfK Thailand
with washing machines, DVD players and recorders, and audio home systems being
the worse hit, underperforming by 20, 18 and 18 percent compared to the same
period last year.
As per GfK, Thailand’s flooding will have minimal impact
on Asia’s retail consumption of digital products as the market is forecast to
achieve a 21 overall growth, while non-digital products such as home appliances
are predicted to expand by 24 percent in 2012.
Thailand flood to affect Asian telecommunication business in a
big way
Last year, Asia Pacific Wire & Cable Corporation
(APWC), Digi International, JDSU, Infinera and Western Digital announced
their action plans to reduce the business impact due to the ongoing flood
situation in Thailand.
