Report: Sharp Takes Back Top LCD Spot

SAN DIEGO — Sony's top ranking for LCD TV shelf-share in October proved to be short lived as Sharp rebounded to take the No. 1 position in November, according to a shelf-share report card issued by market research firm Current Analysis, based here.

Sharp commanded a 16.85 percent share of retail LCD shelf space in November as Sony fell into second place to 14.8 percent — down from 18.4 percent in October, according to the report. Both manufacturers saw total placements reduced during the month due to the pending closure of Good Guys stores.

The company said shelf-share numbers tend to correlate well with actual sell-through market share numbers.

The retail channel saw a flood of new LCD TVs during the month with 14 vendors contributing a total of 20 new models. Current Analysis said more than a fourth of them were in the 32W-inch screen size.

The microdisplay rear-projection category was relatively flat in November, as Toshiba moved ahead of Hitachi to the No. 4 spot behind Sony, Samsung and Mitsubishi as the top shelf-share brands.

Both Hitachi and Toshiba actually lost share since October, with Hitachi dropping a percentage point. Sony, RCA and JVC experienced slight gains in the month, and Magnavox, buoyed by new product placements at Wal-Mart and Sears, increased its presence a full 4.6 percent to reach 6.9 percent share.

Panasonic, with 16.8 percent share, and Samsung, with 16.2 percent, were neck-and-neck for top placement in the plasma TV category during November.

Philips experienced the highest growth in placement space, shooting from eighth place in October with 5.51 percent share to fourth place in November with 8.88 percent, Current Analysis said.

A total of six new SKUs were introduced to the plasma retail channel in the month. Pioneer and Samsung each launched two new plasma panels; Philips and Sylvania contributed one apiece.