Economic Fears Hurting Consumer Electronics Sales?
from the holding-off dept
With inflation a problem, and various economic fears worrying many Americans, it appears that consumer electronics sales may suffer. People who are worried about the economy are realizing that many consumer electronics purchases really are "nice to haves" rather than "need to haves." And, if they are making purchases, they're purchasing lower end models, with folks noting that they don't want to spend much above $200 on a single device. Good timing for Apple, which just released that $199 iPhone.
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Filed Under: consumer electronics, economy, recession
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Fear isn't hurting anything. Prices are.
Consumer: "How much?"
Company: "That not matter. Buy."
Consumer: "Not until I know how much."
Company: "Okay. Buy for $1000 USD. You be happy."
Consumer: "Sure, okay. That sounds great and I'll be the first on my block to buy it!"
*later*
Idiot: "Yo, neighbor. Check what I got. It's a fandangle, top-o'-the-line, multitasking, Red-Ray DVGRCDMP3 player."
Neighbor: "Cool. What's it do?"
Idiot: *describes*
Neighbor: "How much?"
Idiot: "That's the best thing! We get all this for $1000!"
Neighbor: "Great! Where'd you get it?"
*meanwhile*
Neighbor 2: "Hi guys. Check what I just got. It's a Red-Ray DVGRCDMP3 player."
Idiot: "Nice! I just got mine today!"
Neighbor: "I was about to get one. Your brand is different. How much was yours?"
Neighbor 2: "Only $200. Sweet, eh? The price just dropped today. Another is scheduled tomorrow."
And that, my friends, is what's going on in the electronics world. Consumers are pretty pissed of spending $$$ on stuff only to see the price drop within months. So, if you're into selling electronics to consumers, it's best you start with a friendly price rather than trying to cater to the 1% of idiots who will buy it at full price, but regret their decision later.
Kind of what Apple just did with the new iPhone. Of course, if they were smart enough to use a better model in the first place, not restrict the content provider, and open up the market better, they may not have needed to drop the price of this new version.
But Apple will win in the end because while the price of the phone is cheaper, the plan to carry it increased by $10/mo. while still selling a phone that didn't cost $199 to make.
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News?
Not exactly rocket science.
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Why buy all these 'goodies' when DRM and other crap won't let you use half the features anyway?
I must admit, I was going to get a new digital camcorder, but with the price of gas and such - forget it.
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This is inaccurate
Prices on these products were already on their way down. For instance some of those Canon cameras are revisions to last years lines that were already low priced.
Sandisk Mp3 players are cheap because the price of memory got ultra competitive last summer and prices are still being driven down, and fast!
Blu-Ray players are finally getting cheap because they are selling (surprise). This is not because retailers are pushing pricing down but because the second revision of products are coming out and production has ramped up the prices have dropped.
I should know, I work between all of these vendors and my customers. Too bad the Baltiomore Sun was relying on mostly anecdotal evidence.
PS and yes computers are mostly recession proof but they are also insanely low margin. Hard drives, processors and ram may as well be considered commodities at this point.
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By inaccurate do you mean "accurate"?
There is however a caveat, the people who are benefiting from this economic climate, namely commodities traders etc. are spending HUGE. My high-end+ business has grown significantly, we have done more large scale work than ever this year.
Just like the gap between the impoverished and the wealthy gets bigger every day, so does the difference in their toys...
-josh
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ARE PEOPLE GETTING SMARTER?
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$199 iPhone
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Morons
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iphone nano
How much ?
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