Second Album Syndrome
Like bands that exploded onto the scene with their first album, the difficult second year of Covid has certainly proven a challenge for the audio sector. Richard Stevenson reports.
2020 had everyone locked down at home, listening to music and deciding that they needed a new – insert audio product category – to make the most of their newly-acquired spare time and spare cash. Most consumer durable markets had a bumper last half of the
year, and TV and audio took more than their fair share. 2021 saw much of the same initially, as restrictions continued, but had something of a levelling out, rather than the Chancellor’s levelling up, in the latter half. Now, charging into summer 2022, the omens are a mixtape of good and bad for the year ahead in audio. With the economy reeling from Covid, Brexit, potentially the
highest inflation for 30 years, ongoing supply chain disruption, and now the war in Europe – it’s a wonder that there is any economic growth at all. Yet at the time of writing, the latest figures for Feb 2022 showed a modest +0.1 per cent. Several sectors of the audio market will be happy with that in 2022.
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Much like the public’s obsession with music from the ‘80s, turntables continue to spin their magic on consumers’ disposable income, increasing in both volume and value – again
Slipped Compact audio systems, all disc-based players, and even soundbars all slipped down the charts last year, while headphones remained static in value if not volume. Bluetooth speakers continue to rock on with decent turnover,
thanks to supply-chain issues nudging average prices up while demand remained high. Much like the public’s obsession with music from the ‘80s, turntables continue to spin their magic on consumers’ disposable income, increasing in both volume and value – again. That saw the turntable market grow yet another 3 percent in
2021, now topping out a very respectable £27m turnover for the year. Better news still for Retra members, the independents’ share of the turntable market was a whopping 31 per cent, according to GfK.
42 What’s Hot: Audio
Frontman Headphones have been lead vocal of the audio sector for much of the last decade, but last year saw volume drop below 10m units, even if the average price rise kept the value end up. Travel restrictions had their part to play in the headphone
market’s volume decline last year, as the market lacked the airport impulse purchase of travellers desperately looking to block out screaming kids and EasyJet duty-free sales patter in the air. As we go back on holiday, that sector is likely to take off. Nick Simon, client director, market intelligence at GfK, commented: “Headphones saw a quantity decline last year to below 10m units for the first time since the early 2000s. “Fortunately, that was more than compensated for by gains
in the average price, increasing value turnover. Headphones still account for well over £600m at retail.” That keeps headphones as the single largest market in pure
audio for retailers, with the golden ticket product still True Wireless many years after their inception. The buying public has fully bought-in to completely wire-free
earbuds, even for charging, and is still prepared to pay a premium for decent quality products, adding over 6 percent in value to the True Wireless market. While there are plenty of OEM models available for around
£50, the core market is £100 and up, dominated by the likes of Apple, with Retra associate members Sony, Samsung, Panasonic and Yamaha all having very appealing and feature-rich product offerings in the mid to premium band. “True Wireless was not far short of 70 percent of the UK
headphone market turnover last year,” adds Mr Simon. “The technology is increasingly likely to be coupled with Active
Noise Cancelling (ANC) features, keeping average price points buoyant, with sports functionality a feature still much in demand. There is still mileage in Bluetooth headband headphones, however, as these still account for a healthy 20 per cent of the market value.”
Stadium players The premium hi-fi market shows no signs of slowing in demand, but the entire sector has been hit by supply chain issues, and demand outstripping supply by some margin. That has at least smoothed out what could have been a very
What’s Hot: Audio
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