Sony, Samsung Top DTV Shelf Share

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 9/4/2006

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. — — SAN DIEGO, CALIF. —Samsung continued to hold onto top share of plasma TV product placements at major national and regional consumer electronics stores in the June/July time frame, while Sony continued to have top placements in the flat-panel LCD TV and micro-display rear projection TV categories, according to the latest shelf-share market share report from research firm Current Analysis.

In plasma TV shelf share, Samsung and Panasonic both registered net growth in shelf share in the period, but “Samsung was able to cement its lead with an increase of 0.63 percent that brought it to a 21.4 percent share of product placements in major U.S. retail chain stores in July,” said Steve Kovsky, Current Analysis principal DTV analyst.

Hitachi experienced the biggest surge among the top ten plasma vendors in the period, Current Analysis said. The company added 6.23 percent to reach shelf share of 15.18 percent.

“This represents a major increase from its [May-June] shelf share and allowed the vendor to move past Philips and claim the third-place slot,” Kovsky's report stated.

In the June-July period, Panasonic's new 50W-inch TH-50PX600U debuted at Best Buy, Circuit City and Tweeter for an average street price of $3,632.

Sony continued to lead LCD TV product placements in the period, followed closely by Samsung, but Sylvania registered the most new activity, climbing into the fifth-place spot with 7.59 percent of available product placements in major U.S. chain stores.

“Sylvania added 2.12 percent to its June 2005 standings, allowing the vendor to jump up from seventh place ahead of Philips and Polaroid. Toshiba also enjoyed a successful July surge, moving from 4.17 percent to 5.14 percent,” Kovsky said.

Sylvania's 20-inch 6620LDT, an enhanced-definition LCD TV/DVD combo, debuted at Sears and Circuit City stores for an average street price of $487.

Sony retook the top spot in the retail RPTV marketplace this month and pushed Samsung to second place. The South Korean company saw its U.S. retail shelf share drop to 19.46 percent, a decline of 4.05 points from May-June, the report stated.

RCA also lost ground, dropping 5.21 points to reach a U.S. shelf share rank of 10.26 percent for July.

Panasonic moved up to the third-place spot on a gain of 3.74 points to garner 11.89 percent of available product placements in major U.S. retail chains.

Sony's LCD-based 55W-inch Grand Wega KDF-55E2000 debuted at Best Buy and Fry's Electronics for an average street price of $2,149.