SAN DIEGO — The major appliance industry is picking up the promotional cadence as more recent arrivals seek to unseat the old guard.
The trend becomes graphically apparent in a recent study of in-store pricing by TWICE market research partner Gap Intelligence. The upshot: Samsung consistently leads in highest percentage value of in-store discounting across all key majap categories monthover- month and year-over-year, followed closely by Korean rival LG Electronics
The report tracked pricing by Samsung, LG and U.S. market share leader Whirlpool, and shows for example, that Samsung’s discounts on front-load laundry were consistently higher than its competitors for most of the 21 months they were tracked (see chart).
According to Gap home appliance analyst Christine Boersing, the chart also reflects the peak holiday and product refresh promotional periods where in-store discounting soars, with January price cuts nearly double those seen in April.
The trend is even more pronounced in French-door refrigeration, and follows the same pattern for gas and electric ranges.
