Looking at the results for the first quarter of 2010, the electronics market (Computer equipment, IT, Photo, and Telecom) has benefited from the significant recovery in the majority of worldwide regions, according to GfK.
During this period, Asia Pacific (APAC) exhibited growth of 13% in value terms (euros) compared to 2009 following a decrease of -1% between 2008 and 2009. It is a similar situation in Latin America where, after a decline of 19%, the market recovered to enjoy very strong growth (+38%) during Q1 2010. With other regions such as Africa and the Middle East also enjoying increases of around 15%, the picture is in stark contrast to the European Market.
Western Europe showed slow growth of 4%, while Eastern Europe, which had been expected to exhibit a positive increase, continued to decline, by -12%. This was less catastrophic than the -24% between the same period in 2008 and 2009, but a disappointing result nevertheless.
In terms of product category performance, by observing the top ten (that represent 85% of the market the situation has improved markedly. During the same period between 2008 and 2009, only four of these were demonstrating positive growth: LCD TVs (+12%), Laptops (+3%), Consoles (+7%) and of course Smartphones (+127%).