Gadget sales up 12% in SouthEast Asia

And Indonesian mobile phone sales led the pack jumping 39 % in the first quarter of 2011.

According to research firm GfK Asia, The Technical Consumer Goods industry across the five key Asian markets of Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia registered healthy growth of over 12 percent in first quarter of this year compared to the same period in 2010.

Four out of the five markets–Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Thailand achieved double digit
expansion in the range of 12 to 30 percent. Indonesia’s Technical Consumer Goods market exhibited the strongest performance, overtaking Vietnam which previously reigned as the highest growth market in the last two quarters, but has slipped to second position in the latest findings with its 17 percent growth. (Visit www.gfktemax.com for full details of each country’s performance)

“Among the five countries, Indonesia was the only market that showed consistent positive growth
across all the Technical Consumer Goods sectors GfK tracks,” observed Mr. Stanley Kee, Regional Commercial Director for GfK Asia. “Its Telecommunication sector grew by a whopping 39 percent, making it the highest growth record across the board for the first quarter of the year versus the same time period last year.”

Vietnam’s overall growth took a slide to 17 percent from the previous 28 percent growth achieved in quarter four of 2010. While robust double-digit growth rates were reported in the Consumer Electronics, Telecommunication, and Major Domestic Appliances, results generally paled in comparison to the previous quarter with two sectors—Office Equipment and Photo going into the red. Incidentally, Vietnam’s devaluation of the Dong took place in February 2011.

The latest GfK findings also revealed a new category leader—Telecommunications, which managed to surpass the Small Domestic Appliances as the best performing category at 22 percent growth. Trailing in second and third placing are Major Domestic Appliances and Consumer Electronics at 20 and 15 percent achieved growth respectively.