According to GfK Temax, the technical consumer goods market in Hong Kong fell by 6.7% in the fourth quarter 2015 compared to the same quarter in 2014. This was due to strong double-digit declines in four out of the seven sectors: photography, office equipment and consumables, information technology and consumer electronics. The remaining three sectors (telecommunications, major domestic appliances and small domestic appliances) achieved single-digit growth which helped cushion the decline.
Major domestic appliances
Three of the five MDA segments in Hong Kong registered growth in the fourth quarter of 2015, compared with the same period in the previous year. Two of the sector’s biggest categories – cooling products and washing machines – grew by 9.5% and 6.1% respectively. With the need to meet the new Energy Label scheme (which became effective in November), the opportunity was taken to launch new higher-priced models. This helped Hong Kong’s MDA sector to achieve overall growth of 4.9%.
Small domestic appliances
The revenue generated from the SDA sector was up by 4.7% in Q4 2015, compared to Q4 2014. Air treatment equipment and hair styling products drove growth with improved sales of 27.7% and 20.9%, respectively, compared to the same period in 2014. Except for food preparation equipment, hot beverage makers and irons, which registered declines, all other product segments saw increases in sales.
Telecommunications
In Q4 2015, even though telecommunications registered the fastest growth in all the sectors, growth was a modest 5.8%, compared to the same quarter in 2014. The positive performance was driven by higher average mobile handset prices which generated increased sales of 7.9%. Sales of phablets remained consistent while sales of headsets declined by 19.6%.
Consumer electronics
The majority of the product segments in the CE sector reported significantly lower sales in Q4 2015, compared to the same quarter of 2014. While radio devices and USB memory devices reported surges, the biggest segment – Panel TVs – reported a marginal 0.3% fall in sales in the latest quarter.
Information technology
The two major IT segments – mediatablets and desktop computing products – saw the sharpest falls in sales revenue – by 44.1% and 28.8% respectively. This drove the decline of Hong Kong’s IT sector by 21.7%, compared to the same quarter of 2014.
Office equipment and consumables
While sales of multifunctional devices (MFDs) grew marginally (by less than 1%), printers were down significantly by 24.4% in the period between October and December 2015, compared to the same quarter of 2014. However, compared to Q3 2015, it was still an improved performance for the sector.
Photography
Lack of innovations in both the digital SLR (DSLR) and mirrorless cameras segments of the photography sector during 2015 continued to negatively impact consumer demand for cameras. This sector garnered just over HKD 775 million, a drop of 38.4%, compared to Q4 2014.
