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A "Sharper" Drop In Large LCD Television Prices
Electronics | Nov 15, 08
As LCD TV prices fall amid the worst retail economy in years, it seems Sharp is being discounted particularly aggressively.
Slowing sales often bring on a race to the bottom among manufacturers and vendors, and no doubt this year’s dismal fall retail figures are providing particular strong motivation for price cuts. With the outlook for holiday retail looking particularly grim, high-end electronics are already seeing accelerating price declines (see “Recent Price Drops in AMD Processors, Blu-ray Players May Auger Retail Weakness” and “Weak Retail Sales, Lower Oil Take The Gas Out Of GPS Prices”). Interestingly, as premium brands are being discounted, some traditionally lower-priced names are dropping even more quickly.
Case in point: as recently reported in a PriceSCAN press release, while the PriceSCAN 50+ inch LCD index has dropped a remarkable 6% since early October, the Sharp component of that index has fallen twice as much. That eye-popping 12% tumble may represent an effort to keep the low pricing of Sharp models relevant as even higher-end brands become more affordable. And indeed, as a result of these price adjustments, the least-expensive 52-inch LCD tracked on PriceSCAN are currently the Sharp LC-52D43U AQUOS
Time Period: 10/15/2007 through 11/10/2008
Each tick mark represents one week
Red = High Price, Blue = Average Price, Green = Low Price
and the Sharp LC-52D64U AQUOS
Time Period: 9/3/2007 through 11/10/2008
Each tick mark represents one week
Red = High Price, Blue = Average Price, Green = Low Price
(it’s worth noting we’ve seen a slight firming in the price of the former model over the last couple of weeks).
If holiday sales really are as soft as analysts project, we’re likely to see not only more severe tech price drops, but particularly acute cuts in low-end names. It’s not easy to preserve the meaning of terms like “discount brand” in a world where everything is on sale.
Posted by jeffrey.trester (Permalink)
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