Discount Lcd Tv
TV dinners and flat panel TVs, all under one roof - Wal-Mart - Merchandising: CE & entertainment - consumer electronics - Brief Article 'Maybe this is the year of Wal-Mart in the flat panel category," declared Stephen Baker, director of industry analysis for the NPD Group. "If you look at the trends is this category, they favor the Wal-Mart's of the world."
That's right, Wal-Mart and the hottest product trend in the consumer electronics industry today. Gone are the days when new technology simply trickled down and into the aisles of the nation's discount stores. Today, they are reaching the channel much quicker, as is evidenced by Wal-Mart, and being helped along by trends within the CE industry itself. CE products from established brands in other related categories, such as HP and Epson are expected to reach stores in the coming months, and new flat display technology that falls under the terminology of "micro displays" offer plasma-like picture quality for significantly lower prices. This is a perfect equation for a retailer such as Wal-Mart. The Consumer Electronics Association predicts sales for LCD units will reach $1 billion in 2004.
Not only will such technology help boost sales in Wal-Mart's CE category, it could also help it compete with rival Target Stores in its own discount channel.
"This is a hot category," points out Baker. "It drives traffic, better traffic. It's a way for Wal-Mart to get more affluent customers into its stores, to tackle Target on Target's turf."
COPYRIGHT 2004 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group
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