GfK Retail RepoRtsQ4 / 2014
Every quarter, the GfK Retail Reports summarize the current developments in the biggest non-food markets in the Belgian retail. It gives a clear resume of hard facts and sharp analyses of trends, in words and images.
GfK. Growth from Knowledge
Hi Retail Report Addict!
Welcome to the final part of 2014. In this update I will discuss the trends of the fourth quarter of last year.
The Belgian non-food market continued to recover in the fourth quarter. We noticed a 1.9% growth in turnover compared to the same period last year. Especially the telecom business was driving the market during this last quarter.
It performed outstanding, thanks to subsidize smartphone sales and the release of new high value smartphone mo-dels. We noted double-digit growth rates in volume and value. It became by far the best quarter ever in the history of telecom!
On one hand we had that great performance of telecom, at the other hand all other sectors declined in Q4 of 2014. The Media & Entertainment sector showed the biggest loss in absolute value and the Consumer Electronics business couldn’t remain the positive trend after the World Cup Football in Brazil.
Nevertheless we ended the full year 2014 with a small increase in turnover of 0.4%. The IT and Small Domestic Ap-pliances sectors contributed to this growth.
If you like to know more about the fourth quarter of 2014, please download the full report on our website. I would like to wish you all the best in 2015 and see you next time @ Retail Reports.
Jürgen De Mesmaecker Director Digital World
2
9 MaRKets iN Detail
We invite you to glance through the Q2 analyses of the following markets:
- REtaIl In GEnERal »
- ConsumER ElECtRonICs »
- It & offICE »
- tElECom »
- majoR DomEstIC applIanCEs »
- small DomEstIC applIanCEs »
- mEDIa & EntERtaInmEnt »
- BooKs »
GfK makes research matter by delivering the future. In a digitized world, we are the trusted source of relevant market and consumer information that empowers our clients to make smarter decisions.
as thought leaders in our industry, we have a deep understanding of consumer experiences and choices.
We are 13,000 passionate experts with more than 80 years of data science experience and German heritage. We deliver globally with vital insights into local markets in 100 countries.We turn research into business opportunities. through innovative systems and partnerships, we integrate on- and offline data to support Growth from Knowledge.
our goal is simple: enable our clients to create winning strategies to enrich consumers’ lives.
3
9 MaRKets iN Detail
4
Q4/2014
Retail iN GeNeRalContinuing growth in fourth quarter for Belgian non-food retail results ina positive year
Belgian non-food retail performed well during the last and most important quarter of the year: an index of 101.9 compared to the same period last year. This index is based on the sum of all non-food markets measured by GfK Retail and Technology.
this third consecutive quarter of growth results in an overall growth of +0.4% in 2014. unfortunately, there is not much reason to celebrate: these positive figures are heavily influenced by smartphone sales, which exploded in Q4 thanks to the release of new iphone models and several successful subsidised actions. Without smartphones, the market would have declined by more than 2% year-on-year!
apart from telecom, all other sectors are declining in Q4, even small Domestic appliances which traditionally performs very well during the holiday season. most value was lost in mediatablets, not only in Q4 but also year-on-year: the huge growth of past years has peaked and is declining since Q2 (both in volume and value). audio (CD & DVD) and movie (DVD & Blu-Ray) continue to decline in Q4, together with tV and Digital Cameras making up the flop 5.
Clear winners in Q4, next to smartphones, are mobile and Desktop Computing, mobile Enhancements (accessories for smartphones) and Computer monitors.
the Belgian DIY sector experienced a rough year for the first time in ages: after a good start, sales declined heavily in june and july, not showing any signs of improvement in the following months. luckily growth returned in December, making it possible for 2014 to end (almost) break-even compared to last year.
Wim BoesmansDirector Home & lifestyle
*This index is based on the sum of all non-food markets measu-red by GfK. Levels above and be-low this baseline of 100 indicate degrees of respectively positive or negative growth.
5
Q4/2014
Retail iN GeNeRal
one clear winner in 2014: the internet. online sales in technical Consumer Goods are accelerating and have grown by almost 30%. at this rate we will pass the 10% share marker in 2015! this is still way behind our neighboring countries, so we expect this growth to continue in the future.
6
Q4/2014
CoNsUMeR eleCtRoNiCsConsumer Electronics: no happy end of 2014
The World Cup Football in Brazil had a strong positive influence on the Consumer Elec-tronics business, certainly in the second quarter of 2014. More specifically the TV mar-ket delivered a nice growth which even persisted in the summer period, after the ‘festa do futebol’. But did the Consumer Electronics market continue the in same trend during the fourth quarter?
In the fourth quarter however the CE market witnessed a single-digit decline. the tV seg-ment faced a terrible decline in the last 3 months of the year. traditionally the ‘End of Year’ period is important for the technical Consumer Goods business, but in 2014 it seemed to be a wet blanket for the tV market. for 9 months it looked like the tV business was going to achieve growth in 2014, after the fourth quarter it ended in a slight decrease.
the tV market wasn’t the only segment that suffered during the last trimester. Video players/Recorders (DVD & Blu-ray), portable media players, Headphones and Car audio Devices recorded a double-digit decrease compared to the last quarter of 2013. on the other hand we noticed some good performing product groups: amplifier/Receivers and action Cams showed a remarkable increase. the mini speaker segment even jumped in the fourth quarter of 2014 by more than 18% compared to 2013.
Jürgen De Mesmaecker Director Digital World
7
Q4/2014
it & oFFiCeIT grows, Office Equipment in difficulties
During the fourth quarter of 2014 the IT and Office Equipment market decreased in value by almost -2% reaching a value of close to €550 million. Despite this negative last quarter the market for IT and Office Equipment products increased during 2014 by close to 1% for a value of just over €2 billion. The most important growth figures were realised during Q2 and Q3 period.
IT: growth of “classic” computing hardware fuelled growthWithin the It categories we noticed the following trends in 2014.• the classic pC market of desktops and notebooks was able to grow significantly.• the strong decrease in value of the media tablet segment continued because of lower
average prices. • peripheral categories continued their strong performance in the market especially in
the segments of networking products and storage categories.
Office Equipment: still in difficulties the market of office Equipment products was unable to show signs of recovery in 2014. looking at 2014 this sector declined by almost -4% in value.
Both Hardware products and consumable cartridges declined by almost -4%.
Alain BrysConsultant It & office Equipment
8
Q4/2014
teleCoMTelecom: the best quarter ever!
We noticed a fantastic quarter for the telecom market: for the first time ever the turnover generated by telecom products exceeded €300 million. This is by far the best quarter ever in the history of telecom business.
the 2 main reasons behind this strong performance are the launch of 2 high value smart-phone devices: iphone 6 and iphone 6 plus and the numerous subsidy promotions by dif-ferent Belgian operators.
Compared to the fourth quarter of 2013 we noted in Q4/2014 a sales increase of almost 40% in the smartphone segment whereas value-wise the increase is more than 50%. this smartphone increase affected the market of mobile phone accessories: in Q4 of 2014 we note double-digit growth rates in volume and value compared to Q4 of 2013.
Especially the mobile phone Headset and Battery Charger markets performed excellent during the last quarter of 2014. these types of chargers are not only used for keeping our smartphones alive, they are also very useful for tablets.
In 2014 we started measuring Communication Wearables, more specifically smartwatches. last year around 18,000 smartwatches were sold in Belgium and month after month we saw significant growth. In December almost 3,000 smartwatches went over the counter. until today it’s still an ‘early adopter’ product. are you curious too to see if it will go main-stream in 2015?
Jürgen De Mesmaecker Director Digital World
9
Q4/2014
MajoR DoMestiC appliaNCes Price pressure for some MDA products
During the 4rd quarter, MDA sales were showing a rather flat trend.
the last quarter of 2014 could not show growth for the mDa sector and this slight loss is a bit more distinct in value than it is in volume. the sector is experiencing some price pressure, reducing value creation in some ‘free-standing’ categories.
an ongoing trend is the development of less energy consuming household appliances. In Washing machines 75% of the market value is realised by machines with the highest ener-gy label.Kristof Van Den
BosscheBusiness analyst mDa
10
Q4/2014
sMall DoMestiC appliaNCesSales remain flat for Small Domestic Appliances
During the last quarter of 2014, we note a status quo for Small Domestic Appliances. Although we did not see growth for these products during the last quarter, the whole year did end positively.
If we look deeper into these different segments, we see that food preparation and Hot Beverage makers did not manage to grow in the fourth quarter. this is a surprise as these products have always been the growth drivers during the Christmas period.
In personal Care products, we see products in the Haircare segment showing positive re-sults. Hair Clippers, Hair Dryers and Hair stylers all surpassed last year’s results. Dental Care however lost, and shavers did not manage to grow either.
In Home Comfort products sales remains stable. Irons lose compared to last year, while Vacuum Cleaners grow and compensate this loss. Vacuum Cleaners sales fluctuate each month but the launch of the energy label did boost this market. Hand stick models are also becoming more and more popular.
Caroline CauwenberghsConsultant sDa
11
Q4/2014
MeDia & eNteRtaiNMeNtGames Hardware keeps the market from bigger losses
Another big hit for the physical Entertainment market in Q4, with a loss of -10.8% in turnover. Only in Games Hardware do we see a growth.
Gamesthe success of the ps4 continues. second best-selling home console is, surprisingly, the Wii u, before microsoft’s Xbox one. Growth in the total Games Hardware market is +23.6% in the fourth quarter.
In Games software the trend stays negative, with a decline in turnover of -12.9%. two games of ever-returning franchises take the title of top-selling console games in Q4: fifa 15 and Call of Duty advanced Warfare. farming simulator 2015 is the best-selling game on pC.
Musica decline of -22.7% in Q4 completes the year 2014 for music. for the first time in a long while rock music climbs to the top of the charts with the best-selling album ‘Rock or Bust’ by aC/DC and pink floyd’s final album ‘the Endless River’.
FilmBiggest hit in movie in Q4 is ‘frozen’ and angelina jolie’s ‘maleficent’ as a nice second. un-fortunately both DVD as Blu-Ray decline strongly, a total loss of -24% in Q4.
Dimitri van RoyBusiness analyst
12
Q4/2014
statioNeRyBook sales in Flanders stand the test.
While book sales dropped heavily in the first six months of the year (-4.5%), book sales revived in the second half year. In total 15 million books were sold in 2014, good for a to-tal revenue of €196m. This means a minor drop of -1.9% compared to the sales of 2013.
the most successful book of 2014 was a cookbook: ‘puur eten dat je gelukkig maakt’ of pascale naessens. pascale naessens is clearly the best selling ‘book cook’ of the moment. she is positioned in the top 20 with 6 editions. Revenue of €17m was made by the sales of cook books in 2014.
the best-selling literary author was stefan Hertmans with his book ‘ oorlog en terpentijn’. the book tells the story of World War I. Due to the 100 year commemoration of World War I, books on this topic were very popular. the top 20 non-fiction is dominated by war books.
Cindy Van MuldersConsultant Books & stationary
Retail Reports Belgium is a quarterly publication of GfK, distributed in hard copy to all activeBelgian clients and interested parties, by means of our website www.gfk.com/be/retailreports.
this publication provides insight in the current evolutions within the major non-food markets in Belgian retail. GfK does not assume responsibility for any misprints or the contents of the adver-tisements contained herein.
Copyright reserved to GfKno part of this publication may be published or reproduced without prior written consent by the publisher.
Concept and realisationmarijn van ZomerenCorporate GfK marketing team
Editorial teamalain Brys, jürgen De mesmaecker, Caroline Cauwenberghs, Dimitri Van Roy, Wim Boesmans, Cindy Van mulders and Kristof Van Den Bossche
Editorial coordinationEvelien Van aerschot
13
ColoFoN
The editorial office of Retail Reports can be reached by email: [email protected]
By post:GfKDivision Belgiumt.a.v. Redactie Retail Reports Belgiëarnoud nobelstraat 42B-3000 leuven
Want to stay up to date about the trends in the Dutch and Belgian Retail landscape?sign up here for Belgium: www.gfk.com/be/retailreports sign up here for the Netherlands: www.gfk.com/nl/retailreports
14
eDitoRial oFFiCe
