CORRECTION: Circana has issued a correction to its data in this morning’s story. Dollar sales to consumers from February 2022 to January 2023 were $1.09 billion (or up to $1.1 billion) rather than the $1.9 billion stated earlier.
We were also able to get a little more information on the nature of the decline from the general period of 2022 to 2023, now estimated at about 12 percent. A Circana spokesperson said the decline was spread throughout the category “but in-dash receivers and car stereo speakers represented the largest portion of the negative dollars.”
The article below has been corrected:
Circana, formerly The NPD Group, reported on car audio sales to consumers from February 2023 through January 2024. For the most part, it’s a look at sales in 2023, and as you might expect, they are down significantly from the year prior (2022), which was one of the best years for car audio in recent history.
Basically the market fell by 12 percent in dollars from 2022 to 2023 in dollar volume. Unit volume fell to 6.5 million from 7.5 million.
Here are Circana’s results:
U.S. Dollar Sales
Feb’22-Jan’23: $1.09-$1.1 B
Feb’23-Jan’24: $964 M
U.S. Unit Sales
Feb’22-Jan’23: 7.5 M
Feb’23-Jan’24: 6.5 M
Source: Circana Retail Tracking Service
The numbers include in-dash stereo receivers, car stereo speakers, car amplifiers, in-dash video receivers, navigation, satellite radio boxes, radar detectors, remote car starters and alarms, and vehicle cameras.
Circana said it cannot provide a list of the specific retailers that report to its tracking service but it said, “Our retailer panel consists of participating retailers across retail channels, including online-only retailers, consumer electronics retailers, and mass merchants like Target and Walmart.”
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Glad to learn of the dollar sales correction ! ! ! The situation is not so dire 🙂
Circana, formerly The NPD Group does not in any way accurately track the specialty retailer channel, the installing dealers that represent over 4,000 storefronts across the USA.
So… Dollar sales down by 49.26% and unit sales down by 13.33%. That says retailers took a big profit margin hit to the degree that their purchase prices were not reduced by their suppliers. It may also indicate that lower cost “value” suppliers took considerable market share from the traditional “premium” brands. That says the value brands are doing just that, providing a value proposition to consumers that is at least satisfactory and/or the consumer is willing to accept a smaller feature set from less prestigious brands… Either way, absent some intrusive event that impacts consumer buying habits again, I perceive the premium brands will have to find a way to fend off the encroachment from the value brands and/or the industry (suppliers through value add quality and features and retailers through providing an increasing pleasurable buying experience) will have to “create” more consumer demand for the products and services offered.
I’m sorry Ray. Circana issued a correction to its data as noted above. The decline is only 12 percent. CEoutlook always appreciates your analyses and experience.
Correct…… so what your saying is “having car play or android auto” is not enough on it’s own because the the end user that all looks and operates the same! The premium brands need to provide higher quality screen, faster processors to aid in shorter boot up times, fiber optic audio out, 4+ camera inputs with triggers, Modular mounting options, etc.
Buckle Up.
Could these figures be purchases by Retailers? Or they actual sales to consumers? There was a huge demand for product coming out of Covid that filled (and maybe overfilled) pipelines in 2022.
Thank you Doug. These are sales to consumers and I added that to the story.
Thanks for all the US info. Whether or not you believe it there are other countries in the world besides America. How about giving us numbers for other countries as well!
Hi Scott. Point taken, however, we focus on the US.