Sales of consumer electronics up significantly in 2004; analysts predict 2005 will be a record year

• Manufacturer-to-dealer sales of consumer electronics will reach a record-high of $125.7 billion in 2005, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA).
• The report was released yesterday following a presentation by CEA Director of Industry Analysis Sean Wargo, during the International CES, the world's largest annual technology tradeshow, being held January 6-9 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
• CEA also announced that the estimated year-end totals for 2004 would exceed initial expectations, reaching $113.5 billion - an increase of 11 percent compared to year-end totals for 2003, the first year sales of consumer electronics products passed the $100 billion mark.
• That passion is reflected in the continued sales growth of our industry."
• In the video category, digital television (DTV) continued to be a front-runner in 2004, as total sales of DTV products reached $10.7 billion on 7.3 million units, which is an increase of 78 percent in dollar sales and 63 percent in unit sales over 2003 figures.
• The portable MP3 player category has shattered all expectations as unit sales more than doubled in 2004 to over 6.9 million units and dollar sales nearly tripled in revenue to $1.2 billion, compared to figures from 2003.
• The category will continue to grow in 2005 as CEA forecasts that unit sales will reach 10 million units and $1.7 billion in dollar sales.
• Current year shipments of the portable PC products are pushing the category into a new round of growth, with total revenues up 10 percent to a height of $17.2 billion.
• This trend is expected to carry the market into the new year as total PC shipment revenues surpass $18 billion in 2005, bringing printers and other PC related peripherals and accessories along with them.
• Data cited in this release is available for purchase through CEA's Market Activity Reports and Analysis (MARA) program.