A positive 2016 for big appliances and good, but not smart, for small ones: this, in short, the sector trend in France last year.
“In each French dwelling there are on average 7.2 big white goods and 13.8 small”. With this brief ascertainment starts the yearly report with which the trade association Gifam presents the white good trend during last year. The comparison between this year’s figures and the previous one’s is however significant: we can deduce from it the essential characteristic of the examined year.
In 2015, the average had been 6.9 big appliances and 13.8 small ones. In other words: the 2016-year was positive for the first, not smart for the second ones. The analysis of the two tables confirms it.
The survey subdivides big appliances into 10 types: six of them show growths ranging from 2.4% of washing machines to 0.9% of dishwashers. They are anyway modest percentages in markets nowadays close to saturation.
Four products are instead affected by a negative trend. Concerning freezers, this is explained by the growing size of refrigerators, whose latest models tend to have a quite spacious freezer compartment and then able to house the normal provisioning of frozen foods of the average family. A trend of stove replacement with built-in ovens is in course. Regarding instead microwave ovens and suction hoods, the downturn in France is included in the general European trend of the markets of these two appliances, by now close to saturation.
Among small appliances, subdivided into 12 categories by Gifam survey, only 2 show a positive trend. Both, man shavers and hairdryers or hair curlers, are appliances for the body care. This field seems the only one in developing phase, due to the ever-rising care of the personal hygiene in course nowadays. Therefore, currently electric toothbrushes, not surveyed by the statistics, are generally deemed a successful product.
Negative is instead the trend of the two home and kitchen sectors. Here all appliances show the saturation reached on the market. In the ambit of electric coffeepots, then, the trend of espresso types of replacing filter ones seems reversed; the number of consumers wishing the Italian-style coffee is stable whereas the traditional filter type is coming back in fashion.
The survey omits, however, various types of small appliances and precisely among them positive developments are still expected.
In short: according to Gifam, in 2016 they sold in France 15 million big white goods, 46 small ones and 4.5 million electrical appliances for heating and the production of hot water.
Today they calculate the installed fleet amounts to 202 million big appliances, 374 small and 90 million thermal appliances.
The market value in 2016 is calculated in 7.7 billion Euros at final prices to the public, against 7.6 in 2015, with the 1.3% growth. With such value, France confirms its ranking as second market of white goods in Europe, preceded only by Germany, whose number of inhabitants however exceeds the French one by about 20%.
Also in 2016 France was the second destination of the Italian export of white goods, with the approximate 10.7% percentage, still preceded by Germany with 16.6%.
Consumer electronics
Unlike white goods, in France there are no sector statistics for consumer electronics. The only available data come from the surveys by the GfK agency, of which only a part are of public domain.
According to this source, the global sector sales, including the products considered new such as tablets, smartphones and similar, in 2016 reached the value of 15.4 billion Euros in final prices to the public, with the 3% growth versus 2015.
In 2016, TV sets represented around 2.4 billion Euros against 2.1 in 2015. In quantity, sales amounted to 5.9 million units in 2016 against 5.4 in 2015. The strong growth surpassing 9% is attributed to the Olympic Games occurred in the last year.
Prospects
The French market of white goods is close to saturation. Concerning big appliances, prospects come from the offer of new models, more ecologic than past ones and especially less electric energy-eater. Concerning small appliances, the appearance of new items, satisfying consumers’ needs not perceived until now, leads to a stronger and stronger market differentiation. On the whole, the growths of the latter counterbalance the downturns of conventional ones.
