Home technology, a must-have on Asians' shopping lists

(AFP PHOTO/JUNG YEON-JE)

Asians are spending US$8.94 billion a year on consumer electronics products for their homes, a 17 percent increase over the last 12 months.

TVs are currently the hottest products in the Asian market, making up around 80 percent of Asians' expenditure in the category of consumer electronics.

High-end audio home entertainment systems, DVD and Blu-ray players/recorders and camcorders are also high on consumers' technology shopping lists said market researcher GFK in a report on the Asian technology market released on September 6.

"The overall 17 percent growth in the consumer electronics category were mostly driven by the TV category, particularly LCD TV segment, which on its own, registered a 40 and 54 percent growth in sales and unit value respectively," revealed Ms Jasmine Lim, regional account director, GfK Asia Pte Ltd.

"GfK retail audit shows that value share of LCD TVs in the consumer electronics industry have grown by a significant 10 percent to hit 60 percent. In the past twelve months, consumers in the region spent over USD5.3 billion on LCD TVs."

"One other segment that also possesses high growth potential is 3D TV. Recently introduced to the consumer TV arena, there has been a lot of hype surrounding 3D TV and consumers are slowly but surely getting acquainted with this new technology," said Ms Lim.

Consumers living in Hong Kong, Singapore and Korea have been the most receptive to the new technology and are "taking the lead in adopting this new technology," said Ms Lim.

Despite the hype, many Asian consumers (like their American and European counterparts) are still dissuaded by the high price points of 3D TVs on the market and the lack of available 3D content.