NEW YORK — The 10 largest retailers
of major appliances accounted for
more than 84 percent of sales volume on
the TWICE Top 100 Appliance Retailers
Report.
The 10 — Sears, Lowe’s, The Home
Depot, Best Buy, Walmart, hhgregg,
P.C. Richard & Son, BrandsMart USA,
Conn’s and Costco — together generated
$19.1 billion in majap revenue last year.
While the 10 largest dealers weren’t
immune to the effects of the recession
and housing slump, with cumulative
sales slipping 3.5 percent, they did
manage to outperform the competition:
Market share for the top 10 edged up 20
basis points, to 84.4 percent of total Top
100 sales volume.
The gains were largely ceded by midsized
dealers. Indeed, those ranked 11th
to 25th, which includes such chains as
ABC Warehouse, Menards and Fry’s,
relinquished 10 basis points of market
share, to 7.7 percent of the Top 100, as
total majap sales for this tier fell 4.5 percent
to $1.7 billion.
Similarly, those ranked 26th to 50th,
including such dealers as Karl’s, Jetson
TV & Appliance Centers and Cowboy
Maloney, also conceded 10 basis points
of share, to 4.5 percent, as sales declined
5.1 percent $1 billion.
The smallest-volume dealers, which
ranged from independents like Bill
Smith and Van Vreede’s to chains like
Boscov’s and BJ’s, were flat in market
share shift but saw a 5.6 percent drop in
cumulative sales, to $759 million.
Viewed by channel of distribution,
the ranking’s four mass merchants —
Sears, Walmart, Target and Kmart (the
latter three included for their revenue in
room air and microwave ovens) — were
the leaders of the pack, with 35.8 percent
of Top 100 sales volume. But sharp
declines within this sector, led by respective
revenue retreats of 10 percent
at Kmart and 8.2 percent at sister chain
Sears, led to an overall 8 percent sales
decline, to $8.1 billion, and a striking
4.5 percent drop in market share.
Who were the biggest beneficiaries
of the mass channel’s woes? Clearly
the home-improvement sector made
the most of last year’s weak majap market.
The nearly 4 percent gain by No. 2
retailer Lowe’s helped off set single-digit
declines at third-ranked The Home
Depot and 16th place Menards, leaving
sales within this strata flat at $8 billion,
just behind the mass class. But with flat
becoming the new measure of success in
appliances, the results translated into a
3.8 percent gain in market share for the
home-improvement gang, to 35.6 percent
of Top 100 sales.
Also turning in a relatively strong performance
were the multiregional CE
and appliance chains, namely Best Buy,
hhgregg and Fry’s. New store growth
helped propel hhgregg and, to a lesser
extent, Best Buy, to low-single-digit
sales gains, which off set Fry’s 11 percent
decline. Together the sector’s sales
rose 2 percent to $2.3 billion, one of the
few to experience gains, while its market
share moved up 50 basis points to 10.1
percent.
On the whole, dealers that specialize
in appliances only, typified by such independents
as Warners’ Stellian and Appliance
Direct, saw sales slip 3.3 percent
to $612 million, giving this tier a Top
100 market share of 2.7 percent, which
remained flat year over year.
Trailing the majap-only crowd were
those retailers for whom furniture represents
a significant part of the product
mix, with a static 2.5 percent share.
