Audio Product Sales Climb A Sunny Seven Percent In August

The month of August saw hot increases in the sales of audio products, according to the Consumer Electronics Manufacturers Association (CEMA). Factory sales of audio products rose 7 percent to $694 million, equaling year-to-date revenues of $4.7 billion, slightly ahead of the first eight months of 1998. The portable audio category made a huge comeback in August with sales increasing 9 percent with revenues of $216 million. Contributing to this comeback are the sales of portable CD headset units, which grew 26 percent in August with revenues of $68 million. The sales of home radios and analog tape recorders also helped boost this category by respective gains of 13 percent and 18 percent. Continuing an upward trend, separate home components sounded out a 10 percent growth figure over the same month of last year. Receiver sales were especially powerful, leaping 41 percent to $54 million in sales to dealers in August. Sales of speakers also contributed to the growth in this category, rising 4 percent with revenues of $31 million in the month, and the separate components category is close to keeping par with 1998 with year-to-date sales dollars topping $860 billion. Burning its way through 1999, the revved-up aftermarket autosound category saw another tremendously hot month, passing ahead of last year's numbers with August revenues up 19 percent to $187 million. Helping to accelerate the growth in this category were the August sales of in-dash CD players (up 44 percent) and car speakers (up 22 percent).