Looking at the impacts of recession on the consumer electronics industry and researching from the economic slump of 2001, Futuresource’s latest report shows digital cameras and DVD players continued to grow sharply when the economy stagnated, giving a clear indication that home entertainment can ride the storm.

Stretching the timeline backwards further, during the economic downturn of the early 1980s, sales of VCRs in the UK rocketed, growing by 440% between 1980 and 1983.

The UK analysts say the markets for flat panel HDTVs and Blu-ray disc players will continue to expand in Europe and the USA this year, with the majority of consumers continuing to migrate up to more expensive, better specified products.

The US flat panel market is on track to reach nearly 30 million shipments this year, with LCD screens experiencing a healthy 40% growth on 2007. However, many consumers in the US are shopping for smaller screen sizes, between 32” and 42”. Futuresource says the market is likely to see slower growth for the US in the giant screen size segment (50”+). By 2010, overall shipments will have grown to 36 million units.

In Western Europe the TV market is also holding up well, with overall volume growth of 6%, predicted by Futuresource for this year. In addition, significant price reductions of up to 25% in the larger screen (42”+) categories are fuelling interest amongst first time buyers.

The pattern of growth is similar for the Blu-ray disc player market, with Futuresource projections showing player shipments to Europe’s top 5 markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK) more than tripling between 2008 and 2009, to reach in excess of 1.8 million units shipped in 2009, excluding PS3.

Story filed 03.11.08