Three or four years ago sales were in double figures. This year, however, sales of plasma and liquid crystal display (LCD) televisions are set to double at least, market players say, to reach a level of 5,000-6,000 units following the dramatic fall in prices worldwide combined with aggressive promotion by retailers.
The rebranding of the mobile communications operator Orange two years ago brought with it orders for plasma screens numbering in the tens, similar to the annual volume of sales on the market for that year.
This year, players on the Romanian market are expecting sales to exceed 5,000 units for plasma and LCD televisions to final users alone, followed by several thousand units to the special business category (including large orders by shopping centres and hypermarkets like Carrefour).
"Prices fell year by year, by more than 30% last year, and this has generated and will continue to generate strong sales growth," says Catalin Savulescu, the general manager of Panasonic Romania, which is expecting double sales of plasma TVs and a threefold growth in LCD TV sales this year.
The special sales at end of last year brought about a new phenomenon.
"At the end of last year, we saw the first fantastic offers, with a plasma TV going for less than 100 million ROL or 2,500 euros," added Petronius Secareanu, the general manager of the consumer electronics division of Dutch producer Philips.
These special offers were made available for the first time toward the end of last year by Altex retailer for its DK brand, companies in the industry say. Still, the brands that are considered to be in the "A" category (the top price category) are offering plasma TVs at prices starting from 100-120 million ROL.
"While last summer the lowest price for a 42 inch plasma TV (106 cm), which is generally the smallest size at which plasma TVs sold, was around 150m ROL, now we see prices on the market that are even below 100 million.
"The price slump means these products can be more easily acquired through a lending system," says Mugur Stefan, a purchase manager with Flanco electronics and home appliances retailer.
These values account for a drop in prices by almost half for plasma TVs compared to the situation two years ago.
"We have also witnessed increasingly more aggressive promotion of these products by manufacturers or their representatives together with the main dealers," explained Stefan, who for this year expects sales of plasma and LCD TVs to reach 5-6,000 units. "The price is still high, especially for LCDs, and the products need more intense promotion." ionut.bonoiu@zf.ro
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