Sales of 12 volt products overall have been slow since August/September said many retailers. Some describe it as “hitting a wall.”
Many say sales are down 10 to 40 percent compared to last year, which is still comparing against a pandemic surge.
One prominent retailer said his vendors aren’t even hitting him up for the usual end-of-the-month deals. “My conversations with the vendors in general say we’re down in our industry anywhere from 10 to 40 percent. Normally they never tell you that. Normally they say we’re really kicking butt.”
Another retailer said sales were down 30 percent from last year. “We were hovering around 10 percent down for the year then there was this big drop.”
Sales are down at Sound Warehouse in Utah and owner Dean Magnussen agreed with the 10 to 40 percent estimate for the industry. He said of the chain, “If we finish with a strong December, we’ll be flat with 2019 and 2019 is our marker. We don’t use 2021 or 2022, the gold rush years.”
Many retailers said sales are hovering around 2019 sales levels. They add that August and September sales had always been slow prior to the pandemic, but the industry grew accustomed to year round prosperity. However sales are not bouncing back as readily as we head into December for some retailers. Black Friday sales were less than stellar for most.
Tint World with 140 stores said demand has been “a little light” since September. CEO Charles Bonfiglio added that “I saw an uptick in October going into November, but for Black Friday, I can’t say it was knockout. I have mixed reports.”
Sound Warehouse said it advertised the same as it has done in the past but Thanksgiving weekend sales were mediocre. “We basically did the same ad package that we’ve always done and spiced it up a little. I think people have less discretionary income. I think it’s that simple, though the reasons for that aren’t simple,” Magnussen said.
By contrast Harvey Wright of Autosound, IN said sales were down 20 percent in October but they picked up in November to a record level. There are fewer customers but average ticket sales are higher.
Andy Bagwell of Audio Express, Richmond, VA said,”It’s been a roller coaster since July… September was horrible, down 30 percent but pre-COVID September was always slow. Mid August through mid October was always slow.” The chain is up 10 percent over last November and about flat for the year.
Looking beyond car audio/electronics, national retail results overall in October were sluggish. The Wall Street Journal said consumer spending rose only 0.2 percent, down from a 0.7 percent rise in September, according to the Commerce Dept. Reasons include the resumption of student loan payments, inflation, and the shrinking of pandemic savings.
The Wall St. Journal added that job and wage growth slowed in October and home sales fell to a 13 year low.
Mobile Electronics magazine reports that car audio specialist sales were down 2 percent for the third quarter and are expected to fall 10 percent for Q4.
fasten your seatbelts
the government is doing its best to put everyone out of business.
really? that’s your response?
Indeed they are! One party in praticular pushed hard to get rid of student loan forgiveness, and that now cripples a huge sector of our audio business. Hundreds of dollars per month per individual is now being eaten up by student loan payments. And that’s just one example!
Never mind the unending push to keep us away from single payer health insurance that keeps us under the thumb of employers who offer insurance and makes it so the average american is always shouldered with medical debt. And tax cuts for the wealthiest that place the weight of keeping up infrastructure on the taxes collected from middle income folks like you and I.
It’s awful what’s going on every day, and even worse when the folks doing it say they’re “in DC to fight for the working man!”
Fat chance.
I don’t think that has much to with car audio sales slumps exactly, but there’s plenty of stinky goings on around here, and it’s shame that our congress and senate vote straight down party lines, and in many cases, especially congress, that means voting for things that are good for the wealthy and screw the rest of the country.