TVs Sold 'on Promotion' Exceeding Q4 Discounts in 2019-2021: NPD

More than seven of every 10 TVs sold to U.S. consumers in 2022's first four months were bought “on promotion,” reported NPD Wednesday. “Higher inventory coupled with growing price sensitivity as a result of weakening consumer finances have given rise to a surge” of TVs being sold at discount, it said.

The 71% of TVs bought in the U.S. on promotion in January-April far exceeded the 18% of units sold at discount in the same 2021 period, and compares with the 59% of sets sold on promotion in 2019, said NPD. So entrenched is the discount activity that the share of TVs sold on promotion in January-April this year exceeded the volume of sets sold at discount in the heavily promotional holiday selling seasons of 2021, 2020 and 2019, it said.

“After facing unexpected inventory challenges and high consumer demand, retailers are now finding themselves with an inventory surplus and are discounting TVs as well as products in other categories to move inventory out the door,” said Paul Gagnon, NPD vice president-industry adviser.

The “sharp uptick” in TVs being sold on promotion “is not necessarily reflective of what is being seen in the consumer technology industry at large,” said NPD. Though consumer tech promotional activity has begun to rebound from its lows in 2021, “it remains below pre-pandemic levels reported in 2019,” it said.

NPD estimates 24% of total CE units sold in 2022's first four months were on promotion -- two percentage points higher from the same 2021 period in 2021, but three points lower than reported in 2019. Consumers in the past two years “shifted their CE spend as they bought products when they needed them” for remote work or learning, said Gagnon, the former Omdia analyst.

Whether consumers bought tech goods “ahead of typical upgrade cycles or at a higher price outside of promotional periods,” they had technology needs “that had to be met due to pandemic lifestyle changes,” said Gagnon. But amid the return to pre-pandemic work and learning “experiences” and the “building” inflationary trends, “a shift has begun back toward frugality,” he said. “We expect the 2022 holiday season to look a lot more like pre-pandemic times, with higher rates of promotion to entice consumer spending in TVs and beyond.”