They sold +30% of portable air conditioners and +6,7% of fixed ones (source GFK) but sales are at a loss, with almost half of the expected collections. Prices drop dramatically, without even customers asking for it. Between wild promotions, careless purchases of bad Chinese appliances (they cost nothing, they don't get cold, they break immediately, no assistance) imported by traffickers with spot shares, the resellers of appliances are rapidly losing revenue, margins and turnover. And image. Despite a golden summer like this, as evidenced by the data that GFK , and despite the market demand. And when the August data arrives (soon) the missed opportunities will be even more evident. Once stocks ran out, many continued to carry out promotions, a tactic that affects all sectors, even refrigerators which, despite a very strong demand and the increase in unit sales, the "shopkeepers" sold them at ever lower prices, at a loss . Here is the data that confirms this self-defeating tactic.
Very high demand, but prices go down
GFK has released January-July 2017 air conditioner sales figures over the same period in 2016 and, predictably, the numbers are very different from last year when there was a 21,8% drop in quantities for portables. and for the total of about 6%. The same period of 2017 saw a surge, due to the African heat in June and July, of 30,2% for purchases of handsets (the majority of sales, being the fixed sold by the installer channel) but halved in value (+15,8 .6,7%). The increase in sales of fixed air conditioners stood at 2,3% in units while in value it recorded -10%. According to GFK, the average price trend, despite a very dynamic demand, saw a total drop of almost 8,4%, broken down as follows: -11,1% for fixed lines and -50% for laptops. What a bang! And with a cut of 450 euros for each receipt dropped from 400 to just over XNUMX euros.
A thousand shops closed in ten years
“There is clearly an erosion in average prices for both categories, both for landlines and for laptops – a GFK spokesperson told Firstonline, due to multiple factors such as: promotional activities, increased importance of the online channel, entry of new players with low-end devices and, more generally, a generic reduction in the average price by almost all the competitors on the market”. Behind this authoritative comment, there is actually the picture of the umpteenth debacle, of the umpteenth loss of takings and value for retail. Which has lost, only as regards the points of sale organized in groups and chains (just over 50% of the total), almost a thousand stores, going from about 2800 in 2008 to just over 2000 at present. A retail that has once again imitated the famous scene of Tafazzi played by Aldo, Giacomo and Giovanni, the classic Italian who hurts himself. Very bad.
