Home cinema offers fillip to indies

In fabulous news for independent retailers, market analysts GfK report that home cinema category in the UK remains healthy. That’s despite the total market for consumer electronics having declined in both unit sales and turnover in the last three months.

“This can be partly attributed to the continued growth in volume sales for Flat Panel TVs which are often sold in a package that includes a Home Theatre System,” says GfK.

“However, we should not dismiss the credentials of a market which is now worth £152 million (up 23 per cent) and 638,000 units (up 22 per cent) in the 52 weeks ending July 2008. In addition, the average price has hardly altered in four years (£255 in 2004 against £239 in 2008).”

The report suggests that this relatively high price is down to independent retailers, who have 29 per cent of the home cinema market in the UK. At £451, indie retailers’ average price for home cinema systems is almost double the market average.

GfK also reports that two channel products are also a growing market sector, although they are still worth less than a fifth of the home cinema market. The potential is there - two-channel products had an average price of £326 this year against £221 for more traditional five channel models.