Singapore loses to Southeast Asian peers in terms of gadgets

Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand win.

According to GfK, the developing markets of Indonesia and Malaysia continue to turn in strong results in their technical consumer goods (TCG) sector consecutively quarters after quarters. Along with Thailand, these three countries are the three strongest performing markets across Southeast Asia in the third quarter, turning in overall positive showings in the range of 9 to 14 percent.

According to the latest GfK TEMAX reports for the region covering Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, Indonesia has taken over Malaysia’s top position in the second quarter as the country with the highest TCG market growth with its 14 percent growth achieved in the latest quarter.

Nevertheless, Malaysia still managed to attain a robust double digit expansion of 10 percent, trailed by Thailand which saw its TCG sector grow by 9 percent over the same period in 2011. 

“An interesting observation made GfK TEMAX reports in the last six quarters showed that Indonesia and Malaysia have been alternating as the top TCG growth market in the region,” noted Mr. Stanley Kee, managing director of GfK Asia. “A consistently strong performer is Malaysia, who continually managed to turn in double digit growth during this tracking period.”

However, third quarter GfK TEMAX findings for Indonesia reported positive performances ranging from 1 to 34 percent growth in six of the seven TCG segments tracked, pushing the country up the leadership board. Meanwhile, four in seven segments of the Malaysian market generated exponential growth between 11 to 30 percent in the third quarter.

Telecommunications continue its good showing in the region. At a whopping 51 percent, Singapore’s Telco market boasted the highest growth level attained across the board. Driven by the heightening sales of smartphones, the segment is also experiencing rapid expansion in the developing markets of Thailand and Malaysia, which generated 29 and 26 percent incremental sales respectively.

“Various technological products such as smartphones and tablets have been experiencing a high level of adoption and they are expected to continue as two of the key sales generators in the TCG market,” said Mr. Kee. “As we approach the year end festive period, we can certainly also be anticipating increased consumer spending across many other segments in the countries to close the year on a high,” concluded Mr. Kee.