Singaporeans' spending at a standstill

The technical consumer goods market grew by only 0.2% q-o-q in 3Q, with market value standing at S$851m as consumers are choosing to postpone spending on consumer electronics and other valuables for the meantime.

According to the latest Technical Market Index released by GfK, spending on office equipment, telecommunication and consumer electronics sectors continued their decline from earlier quarters, with double-digit decreases. Consumer Electronics was the hardest hit in 3Q, with sales worth only S$171 million in value terms, -15% decline against 2009.

LCD TV endured a bigger decline in the quarter of some -18% from 2009, while headphones managed to record growth of almost 50%.

Meanwhile, double-digit growth was seen in the Major and Small Domestic Appliances and IT sectors. The Major and Small Domestic Appliances sectors registered growth of 27% and 20% respectively. The IT sector also managed double-digit growth while Photo suffered from a single-digit growth, rising only 7%.

The Singapore IT market also saw in 3Q the sale of 8 mobile computers for every 10 PCs sold. Desk Computers continued to see higher growth at 29%. Market value for this quarter stood at S$303 million, an 11% growth over last year.

The GfK TEMAX s an index developed by GfK Retail and Technology to track the technical consumer goods markets. The findings are based on surveys carried out on a regular basis by the retail panel of GfK Retail and
Technology. The retail panel comprises data from over 340,000 retail  outlets worldwide. It is the first index that includes all of the markets for technical consumer goods in different countries.