OREANDA-NEWS. May 21, 2012. The Ukrainian Technical Consumer Goods (TCG) market experienced a decline of 3% and amounted to UAH 9.6 billion in Q1 2012.

The Photo and Information Technology (IT) sectors managed to save the overall market from a drastic decline, showing increases of 8% and 20% respectively. The most dramatic drop (-20%) was registered by Consumer Electronics (CE). Both Major and Small Domestic Appliances (MDA, SDA) dropped by 10% and 13% respectively.
Consumer Electronics: Decline at the beginning of the year

When compared to Q1 2011, the CE sector decreased by 20% in Q1 2012. All segments, except memory cards (minor 6% growth) posted negative results.

In Q1 2012, DVD players/recorders and audio home systems showed the biggest declines, 41% and 34% respectively.

TVs remain the largest segment in the sector with UAH 1.1 billion; however, in the first quarter of the year they witnessed a drop of 16%. Concerning technical features in January-March 2012, trends of the previous periods continued: the share of LED TVs continued to grow while 3D TVs as well as devices with access to internet demonstrated positive growth.
Small Domestic Appliances: Change of consumer preferences for vacuum cleaners

Based on the results of Q1 2012 the SDA sector only generated UAH 0.86 billion - 13% less than the results of the same period last year. The most significant loss came from vacuum cleaners, which dropped by 15% when compared to Q1 2011. The reason for this fall was the change of consumer preferences. On the one hand, they switched from cheap vacuum cleaners with a dust collection bag to more expensive vacuum cleaners without a bag and, on the other hand, a demand for washing vacuum cleaners has slowed down. However, vacuum cleaners looked relatively good if compared to bread makers, juicers and shavers/epilators. Each of these segments fell by more than 25% in Q1.

The sales volumes of bread makers and juicers were influenced mostly by a large number of special offers on cheap models. Among all segments of small household appliances, only coffee machines recorded a positive performance in Q1 - a 10% increase in comparison with the previous year. However, the development of this segment only began at the end of 2010; therefore, these results say more about the weakness of the market.

Q1 ended without significant losses for hair care products and meat mincers. Both segments strengthened their positions, having lost less than 5% in comparison with the past year.
Major Domestic Appliance: Pessimistic start to the year

The start of a year brought some pessimistic moods and expectations to MDA manufacturers - all segments declined in comparison to beginning of last year.

The overall sector lost 10% compared to Q1 2011, with turnover amounting to UAH 1.8 billion. Freezers were hit hardest considering their consistent growth in previous periods – a sales drop of 23% in relation to the last year. Refrigerators, the most significant segment and covering a third of the sector, lost 14% in relation to beginning 2011.

Washing machines recorded to softest decline in Q1 2012 (5%) while built in hobs, kitchen hoods, cookers and ovens decreased by 9%. Furthermore, microwave ovens, tumble dryers and dishwashers declined by 12%, 13% and 14 % respectively.
Telecommunications: Solid smartphone growth

The sales of smartphones grew by 41% in Q1 2012, with the segment seeing no change in average prices. Consumers are now more interested in smartphones thanks to technical features such as duel sim-cards, multy-touch, GPS, 3D etc.

Overall, the Telco showed a drop in comparison with Q1 2011 (-7%) and was evaluated at UAH 1.8 billion. In Q1 2012, mobile telephones saw a 29% decrease that was accompanied with active price erosion. Models with several sim cards continued to keep this segment afloat.  Also,Q1 2012 did not break the trend of previous quarters, registering a decline with regards to stationary phones and fax machines at a level of 30% and 13% respectively.
Office Equipment: Tendency change

In Q1 2012 the Office Equipment (OE) sector amounted to UAH 247.5 million. In comparison to the same quarter of 2011, sales decreased by 3% mainly due to the 7% drop of multifunctional devices (MFD), which is the most significant segment in the OE sector: about two thirds of whole sector. This trend was unexpected as volumes of sales of this segment during the last periods have grown. Additionally, printers showed minor growth of 5% and generated UAH 83.5 million. Scanners, the smallest segment in the sector, grew by 8% with a turnover of UAH 7.6 million.