CE Sales Rising During Pandemic, Research Firms Find

Consumer electronics sales are rising during the novel coronavirus pandemic, Adobe and NPD reported. Online electronics prices, deflating since 2014, are “flattening out for first time in years,” Adobe said Tuesday. “It’s unlikely that consumers will be able to continue to experience favorable pricing online, for electronics, as [they have] for many years.” Supply chain impact “may exacerbate these price changes,” the researcher said. April saw a 58% hike in electronics sales. CE prices increased 0.8%. U.S. e-commerce had a 49% increase in daily sales April 1-20 vs. March 1-10. Buy-online, pickup-in-store fulfillment spiked 208% April 1-20. Shoppers' baskets shifted toward items involving health, working from home and social distancing. Daily online book sales doubled in April. Online grocery prices increased but in line with Q1 2019 levels. CE sales for the past four weeks topped $6.6 billion, up $1 billion-plus, NPD analyst Stephen Baker emailed us. Technology sales, serving consumers’ needs for productivity, learning, employment and entertainment, have continued to grow throughout the pandemic “and notably during retail shutdowns,” Baker said: “No longer is tech a luxury good; technology is clearly now considered by consumers to be a necessity." As "online is absorbing the offline retail economy, some inflation is being observed for the first time in years, especially in categories that have consistently experienced online deflation,” said Adobe's Taylor Schreiner. Americans getting things cheaper online “may be ending, and online commerce may never be the same,” said the analyst: “It appears that COVID-19 has accelerated that process.”