Consumer spending on technology products has been growing for years. Now, U.S. economic woes in 2008 have finally caused a decrease in 2008 consumer technology sales.

Although total sales are still significant, the 2008 total of $112 billion was a 4 percent loss from 2007. That 4 percent represented the gain made in 2007, so essentially 2008 fell back to 2006 levels, according to a ZDNet story. The figures came from analysis performed every year by the NPD Group, a New York market research company.

Besides the basic fact of slower sales in a vital market, there were a number of fascinating technology market tidbits in the report:

• The two largest sales categories in 2008 were Notebook PCs ($20.2 billion) and LCD TVs ($19.9 billion). Those television sales represent a 37 percent increase from 2007. Categories 3 through five were desktop PCs, inkjet printer cartridges and MP3 players.
• The largest retailers, in order, for 2008 were Best Buy, Wal-Mart, Dell, Circuit City, and Apple. Both brick-and-mortar and online sales are used to calculate total sales positions. The top two spots remained unchanged from 2007, but Apple was new to the list in 2008, just edging out Staples, who fell from the top five.
• In the category OEM sales, the top five revenue earners were Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Sony, Dell, and Samsung.
• Brick and mortar retailer sales declined 3 percent to $83 billion.
• Online-only retailers had a good year, growing 37 percent to $4.8 billion, presumably due to lower prices via decreased overhead.
• Retailer Web site sales were up as well, though they gained only 3 percent in revenue to $7.6 billion.

The report goes on to say, “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. 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.”

The fast-growing technology sector has been a growth staple in the U.S. economy for years. A revenue decline in this consumer-favorite marketplace is a sure sign that disposable dollars are in short supply in many households in this country. If any further proof were needed of the problems the economy faces, this is surely that additional evidence.

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Entry was posted on Saturday, March 21st, 2009 at 2:06 pm under Apple, Ecommerce, Internet, LCD, Media players, Notebook, Retail, Technology.

Read more entries by Michael W. Jones.
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