NEW YORK –
As in most industries, the drive to ever
greater efficiencies in a free-market economy has led
to consolidation within consumer electronics retailing.
While the list of departed dealers grows longer each
year, the CE retailers at the top of the heap continue to
increase their hegemony by taking market share from
the smaller players below.
Last year was no different: The nation’s 10 largest
CE retailers increased their Top 100 share by 1.6 percent,
and now account for more than three out of every
four dollars spent on electronics at retail, or 76.6
percent of all CE sell-through on the TWICE rankings.
The next 15 retailers on the list, ranked 11th (Newegg.
com) through 25th (BJ’s Wholesale Club), ceded
4.3 percent of share last year on CE weakness at
Sears, Fry’s and Toys “R” Us. The stratum now represents
15.5 percent of Top 100 sales, down from 16.2
percent the prior year.
The concentration of CE firepower falls off rapidly for the next retail tier, those ranked 26th (QVC) through
50th (full-line supercenter chain Meijer). Although the
segment held its ground with essentially flat year-overyear
sales, it comprises only 5.6 percent of Top 100
revenue despite a contingent of 25 companies.
Sales are even more dissipated for the next 50 retailers,
whose share falls by nearly half from the segment
above, to 2.4 percent. This group, which spans 51stplace
Video Only to 100th-ranked Hastings Entertainment,
saw its Top 100 share slip more than 14 percent
last year, as sales for the group declined nearly 9 percent.
