Sales to dealers of stereo direct-view color TVs continued their second-quarter growth comeback in May, following April’s 12.1% increase with an 8.2% rise from the same month last year to 882,900, according to figures from CEMA.
The improvement over the two months was just enough to offset the first quarter’s 6.2% decline, and the five-month sales total of 4.14 million was fractionally up from the same 1998 period.
The figures indicate that sales of non-stereo color TVs were up 5.4% in May to 785,300, and down 2.4% to 3.71 million for the full period. As a result, stereo’s share of the color market rose to 52.9% in May from the year-earlier 52.3%, and stood at 52.8% for the five months, up from last year’s 52.2%.
Based on traditional selling patterns, May stereo color sales were at a seasonally adjusted annual selling rate of 14.3 million, an all-time monthly high. The average selling rate through the first five months was 12.6 million. The actual annual sales record of just less than 12 million was set last year.
