The coronavirus pandemic might have wreaked havoc on the economy, but consumer spending on tech gadgets actually seems to be up during lockdown. Like, way up.
According to NPD analyst Stephen Baker, there was a surprising 23% hike in consumer tech sales year-on-year for the week ending April 18. That compares to an overall decline of 23% across all industries the firm tracks.
In a pair of tweets, Baker says that PC sales were up 53% during the week, following a 31% increase the week before that. For each of the last five weeks, PC sales have grown by at least 30% per week. Chromebook sales have been up more than 100% for each of those weeks. Computer monitor sales ramped up 73%, printers by 61%, and microphones by 147%.
TVs won this week??. Sales exceeded 1.1m units, highest volume ever outside holiday a 86% increase in units. Every size 32″ & above had double digit growth. 65″ & above TVs were up 139%. 32″ which declined by 15% over first 10 weeks of 2020 increased by 40% over last 5 weeks
— Stephen Baker (@NPDSteveBaker) April 27, 2020
TV sales, meanwhile, exceeded 1.1 million units in the week. That’s the highest volume ever outside the holiday season, marking an 86% increase in sales. The bigger the TV the better, the numbers suggest. 65-inch displays and up were up 139%. Other strong categories included networking technology (up 70%), headphones (up 29%), range extenders (173%), and more.
Baker doesn’t break down the figures by brand. However, as a leading manufacturer in some of these areas (specifically, computers, headphones, and streaming boxes), it stands to reason that Apple could do well out of this unexpected boom. It’s not the first time that the lockdown has benefitted Apple either in terms of spending. Previous reports have suggested that Apple Music, Apple TV+, and App Store spending have also all increased while people have been stuck home.
Have you splurged on any tech items as of late? Let us know what you picked out in the comments below.
