A/V Market Hit Hard by Economic Downturn

Twice.com reports that according to consumer and retail market research firm NPD Group, in the last 10 months major segments of the audio industry have experienced a significant hit because of the state of the economy.

The report continues by saying that the MP3 speaker/docking station category was the only major product category that posted an increase in sales. Unit sales through October rose 14 percent at the retail level; dollar sales rose 2 percent to $302.2 million.

The report goes on to say that the sales of A/V receivers fell 8 percent while dollar sales fell 6 percent. Loudspeaker sales fell 17 percent while dollar sales slipped by 16 percent.

The release adds that sales of HTiB systems fell 16 percent; dollar sales fell by 10 percent. The release notes that just 1 percent of the HTiB systems sold during the 10-month period included Blu-ray players. Two percent of HTiB systems were soundbar systems. Additionally, the NPD found that 29 percent of HTiBs included iPod docks.