Revenue in the overall consumer electronics space in the U.S. declined 4 percent in 2008, after rising 4.5 percent the previous year, with LCD TVs and notebook PCs the top drivers of growth. That’s according to the NPD Group’s consumer tracking service, which released the numbers Thursday.
CE revenues, the group said, reached $112.3 billion in 2008. Notebook PCs accounted for $20.2 billion of that, followed by LCD TVs, Desktop PCs, inkjet cartridges, and MP3 players.
Best Buy was ranked the number one CE retailer, followed by Walmart, Dell and the now-defunct Circuit City. Apple came in fifth. On the OEM side, HP took the top spot, followed by Apple, Sony, and Dell.
“Despite a decline in sales and the upheaval in growth, pricing, and distribution which occurred in 2008, the consumer technology industry has strong reasons to be optimistic in 2009,” the group’s industry analyst, Stephen Baker, said as part of the announcement.
"What we experienced in 2008 will continue to reshape the industry this year but we’ve already seen signs that people haven’t given up on consumer technology. The speed with which Circuit City’s liquidation occurred shows that when offered great bargains on electronics consumers are willing to allocate their precious dollars towards these products over many others."
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