Sales Of Audio Products Remain Hot In August

Double Digit Growth Over Last Year Puts Industry Revenues Over $5 Billion

27-Oct-00

The steamy month of August showed no sluggishness in the factory sales of audio products to dealers, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA). Sales for this month rose six percent compared to the same period last year, resulting in year-to-date sales of $5.3 billion, an 11.2 percent rise over last year. The warm weather saw portable audio revenues post a nine percent increase in August, generating $235 million in sales. This increase contributes to the 22 percent increase in sales of portable audio products so far this year, up to $1.6 billion. Within this sector, headset CD players jumped up 25 percent to $85 million, helping this category achieve year-to-date sales of $511 million - 37 percent ahead of the first eight months of 1999.Factory sales of audio systems also experienced double-digit growth, climbing 16 percent to revenues of $192 million in August. For the year so far, audio system revenues rose nine percent over 1999, surpassing $1.2 billion in revenue. Helping drive this tremendous growth are the compact systems category, increasing 15 percent, and the convenient and affordable home-theatre-in-a-box category, increasing a phenomenal 45 percent in August, demonstrating the desire of consumers for easy, one-stop solutions to great sound. ""Consumers are increasingly experiencing the immersive aspects of surround sound,"" commented Gary Shapiro, President and CEO of CEA. ""Whether it is a family enjoying a home theatre experience or a college student listening to digital music files from their PC, clearly digital audio products are changing the way people listen. This trend will only continue when new formats, such as DVD-Audio and Super Audio CD, bring us new exciting aural experiences and music as we've never heard it before."" Even though sales of home receivers dipped slightly in August (six percent), other categories within separate home audio components also experienced double-digit growth. Within this sector, CD equipment revenues were up by 27 percent (largely due to the growing popularity of CD recorders), and separate home speakers increased ten percent. Year-to-date numbers show that home audio component sales are up 13 percent, equaling $965 million in sales dollars. The aftermarket autosound sector is running par with last year's figures with $1.5 billion in revenue generated thus far this year.