Brisk sales of small appliances in Asean
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The market for small domestic appliances in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand in the past 12 months expanded by nearly 6 per cent to more than US$804 million (Bt23.1 billion), according to global research house GfK.
“The increasing affluence of households, on top of the rising need for convenience, has brought about an upgrading phenomenon, which we are witnessing especially in developing countries,” Jasmine Lim, account director for home and lifestyle at GfK Asia, said yesterday.
Consumers bought 1.6 million more small household gadgets such as food-preparation appliances, irons, rice cookers and vacuum cleaners than the previous year.
All five markets registered growth of 1-12 per cent, with Thailand exhibiting the strongest jump followed by Indonesia at 8 per cent. Thailand had the highest consumption level as its consumers spent $235 million on 9 million appliances, contributing to 30 per cent in value and volume to the small-domestic-appliances (SDA) market in the region.
“In recent times, our findings have shown escalating sales of higher-end appliances – an indication of consumers having greater purchasing power and switching from buying basic models to the more sophisticated product ranges,” she said.
European brands are registering a rising presence in four of the five countries, with one in every three food-preparation appliances, vacuum cleaners and irons sold in the region originating from Europe. This has made European manufacturers the dominant contributors to total sales of the respective categories.
Among all the small domestic appliances, the region’s consumers purchased the most rice cookers. More than 13.8 million units were sold in the past 12 months – 860,000 more than a year ago. Generating more than $355 million in sales, this appliance is also biggest in terms of market worth.
However, it is the vacuum-cleaner segment that experienced the greatest volume growth of 8 per cent, driven by Indonesia with 23 per cent and Thailand with 17 per cent.
“The uptrend for SDA products is likely to continue, driven especially by strong demand in the region’s developing markets,” Lim said.
“A generally positive performance throughout last year and the sustained growth momentum reflected in the first two months of this year present an optimistic outlook for this sector, which is anticipated to remain in healthy territory in the months ahead.”
