Consumers to spend $706 bn on electronics this year: survey

Despite the ongoing global economic crisis, people worldwide will spend more this year on consumer electronics, IT and telecom and are expected to take the total market size to $706 billion, according to a survey.

"In 2009, consumers will spend 2 per cent more on products in the audio/video, photography, IT and telecommunications segments, with total global expenditure for the year as a whole forecast at euro 494 billion ($706 billion)," said Gfk Retail and Technology survey, carried out in more than 80 countries.

Japan is showing the biggest expansion at 8 per cent, followed by Africa (6 per cent) and China (5 Per cent), Gfk said in a statement today. North America and Europe are expected to see a decline of 3 per cent and 5 per cent, respectively.

"Mobile phones and televisions each increased 4 per cent in terms of value, while consumer PCs grew by 2 per cent," Gfk said.

"In each of these categories, which account for 78 per cent of the total market, innovation is the growth driver. This is underlined by new products such as smart phones, flat-screen televisions and notebooks," it added.

Among the smaller product groups, Blu-ray players are expected to grow 117 per cent, while portable navigation devices are growing at 17 per cent.