Welcome to the Reevoo Index

Here you can download previous versions of the Reevoo Index UK Electronics e-Retail Report and read the executive summary from last month’s report.

April 2009 Executive Summary

  • The level of shoppers online activity remains muted, with activity in April down 12% versus March, and down 9% versus April 2008
  • The double-digit year on year growth rates that have been the norm over the past 5 years appear to have been put on hold as shoppers reign in spending offline AND online
  • Interestingly, shoppers are browsing more on all core categories other than brown goods, which may be read as a continued underlying shift toward online shopping
  • Significantly reduced browsing of brown goods drives an overall decline however; purchases in this category (typically luxury, entertainment orientated products) are the most discretionary of all core categories and, as such, most closely correlated with the economic climate
  • Looking forward we may well see a surge in activity in brown goods as soon as consumers’ financial position and confidence improves
  • There has been a continued drop in the purchasing experience as rated by shoppers, potentially a symptom of waning service levels from retailers trying to cut costs
  • Average selling prices fell for the first time since December 2008. However, this was a result of a change in the mix of products towards smaller, cheaper products rather than price cutting. The average purchase value within all core categories actually increased
  • From the perspective of the leading electronics brands, LG had a storming month with the LH3000 and LG5000 television ranges (released in March and April 2009 respectively) attracting a lot of attention
  • Samsung made incredible gains in market share over 2008, but the start of 2009 has seen some of this ground lost to rivals; we look forward to reporting on the performance of the next set of high profile Samsung releases as an indicator of ability to make further gains within the electronics market

March 2009 Executive Summary

  • March showed a further decline in online activity in the electrical market following a muted February
  • Online activity in electrical retails was 13% below March 2008 level
  • Reduced activity on brown goods was the main driver of the decline, with the sharp drop off in entertainment items post-Christmas continuing through February and March
  • White goods saw a small decline in activity whilst page views of mobile phones was stable
  • Computers is the category that has continued to grow whilst other categories have stalled, seeing a 28% year on year growth in online browsing
  • March also saw a sharp drop in the purchasing experience as rated by shoppers, potentially a symptom of waning service levels from retailers trying to cut costs
  • Average selling prices grew again in March, driven by increases within the computers and brown goods categories
  • Most of the big brands suffered reduced share in March as the volatile conditions threaten to shake the market up. Only Nokia drove a significant increase in share of market activity with the release of the N79 and the continued success of the 7100 Supernova

February 2009 Executive Summary

  • February is traditionally the slowest year for online electrical sales as people rein in spend following the Christmas period and New Year sales; figures are further muted by a short month
  • Accordingly, total activity in the electronics online market fell by c.35% vs. January, which is 12% above February 2008 levels
  • The highest volume categories of mobile phones and brown goods drove the fall in activity in February
  • Interestingly, shopper browsing activity of white goods and computers did not drop as sharply; these are the categories that have shown the largest year on year growth in activity of c.30% in white goods and an astonishing c.130% of computers; clear evidence that shoppers are no longer uncomfortable buying large purchases online
  • Pure-play retailers have seen less of a decline in online activity since the Christmas rush compared to their Bricks-and-Clicks competitors; the eagerly anticipated return of Woolworths as an online player will further shake up the balance
  • Prices continued to increase after the end of the heavy Christmas discounting; Average selling price in February was c.£290, with a £50 jump up from the average January price partly driven by a shift in mix towards higher priced white goods
  • With regards to the winning brands Blackberry and Nokia were the only super brands to gain share of overall market activity over the last month, driven by the continued success of the Storm and the new Curve 8900, and Nokia’s release of the 7100 and 5800 XpressMusic respectively

January 2009 Executive Summary

  • January saw a c.18% dip in browsing across electronic retailers in the UK following a strong set of December results
  • The first few days of January showed persistently strong activity at close to Christmas peak levels, but activity has been on a steady downward trend since, flattening off towards the end of the month
  • Small, home entertainment products (brown goods) and computing are the categories that have seen demand drop off the sharpest (laptops in particular was a category that saw strong growth over the festive period but that has stalled in January)
  • White goods is the only category to witness increased activity in January, continuing the trend of consistent growth over the past year as shoppers get more comfortable with bulky online purchases
  • Pure-play retailers have seen less of a decline in online activity (down c8% in January) compared to their bricks and clicks counterparts,
    despite the failure of Empire Direct
  • Average selling prices of product increased sharply in January to c.£240, close to the highest levels seen over 2008
  • This upwards spike in average selling price is partly driven by an easing of the aggressive price discounting seen by retailers over Christmas, and also as customers shift away from the traditionally lower priced gift items purchased over the festive period
  • With regards to the winning brands, Samsung, Nokia and Sony Ericsson have driven strong share gain in online activity to start the year
  • Interestingly, the success of these brands has not been driven by new product releases as is normally seen, but may be the first stage of a shift by consumers towards lower priced products, or at least brands with strong value messaging