Looking at a fragmented market

The electrical goods market is very diverse, ranging from televisions and tablet computers to household appliances and personal care devices.

In part because of the diversity of the market, there is fragmentation, to varying degrees, in the retailing of electrical goods across Europe. Non-specialists, such as online-only retailers, mixed-goods stores, catalogues and grocers, are prominent in some markets.

Our European report addresses this diversity and fragmentation:

  • We provide consumer spending data for the major segments, 2008-13;

  • For each country we provide analysis on the distribution of spending by sector;

  • We provide annual sales data and forecasts for the specialists sector for each of the 19 countries;

  • And for each country we provide data on participation in, and the size of, the online channel;

  • Our European Summary: The Market section provides online market size and retailer data;

  • In the five major country sections, we look at the biggest online retailers of electrical goods;

  • And in the five major country sections, our consumer research asked shoppers which stores they had bought from.

Consumer questions

For our UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain reports, we surveyed representative samples of consumers. This year our survey asked consumers in each of these five markets:

  • Which retailers, if any, have you bought electrical goods from, either online or in-store, in the last 12 months?

  • Which factors are most important to you when choosing one retailer over another?

Our UK survey also asked British shoppers:

  • Which, if any, types of electrical products have you purchased in the last 12 months?

  • Which services/products have you used in the last 12 months and were you satisfied with them?

  • Attitudes towards retailers of electrical goods.

Scope and coverage

  • This report series covers the 19 leading economies of Europe (excluding Russia). We estimate that they account for around 95% of all European retail sales. The remaining ten countries are either too small (eg Luxembourg) or are not sufficiently well developed to warrant detailed coverage (eg Romania and Bulgaria). Basic coverage of the developing countries plus Russia and Turkey is contained in Mintel’s annual European Retail Handbook.

  • This data in its entirety is contained in the single copy 19-country report, which gives a full overview of electrical goods retailing in Europe. Single country reports are also available for the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.

  • We provide detailed coverage of the five major European economies: the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The other 14 European markets are covered in briefer country sections. The European Summary sections and the Executive Summary bring together data for all 19 markets.

  • Our report includes profiles of 17 major retailers of electrical goods. Companies profiled for the first time this year include Amazon Europe, Argos and AO.com / Appliances Online.

Definitions

In retail terms, these are the sectors included within our definition of electrical goods specialists.

Sector SIC / NACE code Definition
Electrical appliance specialists includes:
Audio-visual specialists 47.43 Specialises in the sales of radio and television equipment, audio and video equipment, CD, DVD etc. players and recorders.
Household appliance specialists 47.54 Specialises in sales of electrical household appliances
Computing and telecoms specialists includes:
PC specialists 47.41 Specialises in the sale of computers, computer peripheral equipment, video games consoles, non-customised software including video games.
Telecoms equipment specialists 47.42 Specialises in the sales of mobile telephones, mobile phones for motor vehicles, installation of mobile phones in vehicles, other telecoms equipment.

The total market comprises all consumer spending on electrical goods, which consists of the following sub-categories.

Segment Category COICOP code Definition
Household appliances Major appliances whether electrical or not 05.3.1 Refrigerators, freezers and fridge-freezers; washing machines, dryers, drying cabinets, dishwashers, ironing and pressing machines; cookers, hobs, ranges, ovens and microwave ovens; air-conditioners, humidifiers, space heaters, water heaters, ventilators and extractor hoods; air-conditioners, humidifiers, space heaters, water heaters, ventilators and extractor hoods; vacuum cleaners, steam-cleaning machines, and other floor-cleaning machines; other major household appliances such as sewing machines, water softeners, etc. Includes: delivery and installation of the appliances when applicable. Excludes: appliances that are built into the structure of the building (capital formation).
Household appliances Small electric household appliances 05.3.2 Coffee mills, coffee-makers, juice extractors, can-openers, food mixers, deep fryers, meat grills, knives, toasters, ice cream makers, sorbet makers, yoghurt makers, hotplates, irons, kettles, fans, electric blankets, etc. Excludes: small non-electric household articles and kitchen utensils; weighing machines/scales.
Audio-visual and photographic equipment Audio visual and recording equipment 09.1.1 Television sets, DVD/video players and recorders, television aerials; radios; record players, tape players and recorders, cassette players and recorders, CD-players, personal stereos, stereo systems and their constituent units (amplifiers, speakers, etc.), microphones and earphones.
Audio-visual and photographic equipment Photographic equipment 09.1.2 Still cameras, video cameras and camcorders, film and slide projectors, enlargers and film processing equipment, accessories (screens, viewers, lenses etc.); binoculars, microscopes, telescopes and compasses.
Computing and telecoms Information processing equipment 09.1.3 Personal computers including desktops, laptops and tablets; monitors, printers and miscellaneous accessories; computer software packages such as operating systems, applications, languages, etc.; calculators.
Computing and telecoms Telephone and telefax equipment 8.2 Purchases of telephones, fax machines, telephone-answering machines and telephone loudspeakers; repairs. Excludes: services.

In our UK report, we include Personal Care Appliances in our market size and segment forecasts.

For the UK: Crown copyright material is reproduced with the permission of the Controller of HMSO and the Queen’s Printer for Scotland.

Financial definitions

  • All company sales figures are quoted excluding VAT, unless specifically stated otherwise.

  • All specialists sector sales figures are quoted excluding VAT, unless specifically stated otherwise.

  • Consumer spending data is quoted including VAT, unless specifically stated otherwise.

  • Operating profit is trading profit after normal operating costs and depreciation, but before interest, goodwill amortisation and exceptional items.

  • Pre-tax profit is calculated after all costs, including exceptionals, interest, and non-cash charges such as amortisation, but before tax.

Note that there can be a number of reasons why tables do not sum exactly:

  • Rounding errors

  • Currency conversions if original data for different subsidiaries was in different currencies (companies often provide information in local currencies).

  • VAT (sales tax) – if original data was provided gross (including sales tax), we have extracted VAT at the relevant rates for countries concerned and at the estimated appropriate rates depending on product categories sold.

Information on all subsidiaries is not always available. As a result in some cases we have an entry for the parent company, and subsidiary information on only one part of the business.

Currencies

Conversion from local currencies to Euros is carried out at the average rate ruling during the year.

Where a retailer has a non-calendar year-end, the closest calendar year rate has been used.

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
€ to £ 0.7964 0.8917 0.8590 0.8678 0.8111 0.8489

Rates against the euro for eurozone countries have now been fixed since 1999 and all accounts in eurozone countries are now published in euros. We therefore have not included the rates for the old currencies.

Sales per store, sales per sq m

  • Sales per sq m is the sales generated during the year divided by the average area traded from during that year.

  • Sales per store is calculated using the average number of trading outlets during the year.

VAT rates

Austerity budgets mean that a number of countries have increased VAT rates.

The Czech Republic and Finland raised VAT rates at the start of 2013. Italy raised the standard rate from 21% to 22% on 1 October 2013.

France raised VAT slightly to 20% on 1 January 2014.

01-Jan-10 31-Dec-10 01-Jan-11 31-Dec-11 01-Jan-12 01-Jan-13 01-Jan-14
% % % % % % %
Austria 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
Belgium 21 21 21 21 21 21 21
Czech Republic 20 20 20 20 20 21 21
Denmark 25 25 25 25 25 25 25
Finland 23 23 23 23 23 24 24
France 19.6 19.6 19.6 19.6 19.6 19.6 20.0
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(a) 2011 VAT rise was implemented on 4 January.

Abbreviations

ACORN A Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods
B2B Business-to-Business
C2C Consumer-to-Consumer (sales)
CAGR Compound Annual Growth Rate
COICOP Classification of Individual Consumption According to Purpose
CPI Consumer Prices Index
e Mintel Estimate
f Mintel Forecast
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Country codes

The following abbreviations are sometimes used for countries.

Country Code
Austria AT
Belgium BE
Bulgaria BG
Czech Republic CZ
Denmark DK
Estonia EE
Finland FI
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