NEW YORK — Combined sales among
TWICE’s Top 25 car electronics retailers
fell in 2009 by 10.6 percent to $5.12
billion, and only eight retailers on this
year’s Top 25 list posted gains.
Double-digit declines were the norm
for dealers making the 2009 list, yet as a
group, the top 25 dealers easily outperformed
the industry, based on the Consumer
Electronics Association’s estimated 42.6 percent decline in 2009
factory-level aftermarket car electronics sales. The decline was driven
mostly by a 58 percent drop in portable navigation device sales.
Best Buy, Walmart and RadioShack maintained their respective
positions as the nation’s first-, second- and third-largest retailers
of car electronics even though each suffered double-digit
percentage-sales declines.
TWICE’s research also found that the mass merchant, consumer-
direct, and 12-volt specialty channels posted slight dollar-share
gains among the Top 25 retailers, while electronics and electronics/
appliance dealers post slight dollar-share declines.