The TWICE Top 100 CE Retailers Report ranks the leading domestic CE dealers by sales of consumer electronics.
Sales figures are based on information that was supplied by retailers responding to a 300-dealer survey by TWICE and research partner The Stevenson Company. Absent retailers’ input, estimates were developed from Stevenson’s internal market tracking surveys (TraQline), industry sizing based on wholesale shipment figures from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and other sources, and average retail price points by product.
Related: Find out how to obtain a copy of the 2017 TWICE Top 100 CE Retailers Report.
All estimates were further refined through the use of public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), TWICE industry analyses, retail analysts’ financial reports, published data and other external sources. Once the estimate was determined to be a reasonable assumption of the retailer’s CE sales, the figure was broken out by product category based on the TraQline surveys. Sales figures by total and by category for 2016 were then compared to 2015 sales tallies, and adjusted if necessary to more closely track total reported revenue growth.
Businesses must meet the following criteria to be considered consumer electronics retailers and to qualify for inclusion in the Top 100 report:
● sells new products directly to consumers;
● has physical retail store locations, or has a significant online presence;
● sells consumer electronic products as one of its principal lines of business;
● does not offer consumer electronics products primarily to sell its transmission services, i.e. wireless carriers, cable operators, satellite radio/TV providers; and
● sells merchandise that is considered consumer electronics products as defined by the CTA (see product definitions below).
Sales are considered to be the revenue received for the products sold primarily to consumers, including CE hardware and accessories; personal computers, peripherals and software; and video game platforms and software. Sales of prerecorded music CDs and movie DVDs and Blu-ray discs are excluded from the report. Respondents were also instructed to exclude revenues received for installation services, repair services, rentals, extended-service contracts and vendor marketing support, as well as sales to the business, government and education channels.
Based on The Stevenson Company’s proprietary methodology, a refined baseline was developed for this annual project effective with the 2005 Top 100 CE Retailers Report, our first collaboration, covering the years 2003 and 2004. Therefore, comparisons with Top 100 reports issued prior to 2005 would be imprecise.
The Stevenson Company, based in Louisville, Ky., began as the global economic analysis and research department of GE Appliances. Now independent, the market research firm has served the consumer electronics and major appliances industries for 22 years by developing markets sizing and market share estimates. Its TraQline syndicated quarterly survey of 150,000 shoppers measures retail purchases of consumer durables and provides estimates of unit and dollar market share and other key measures.
Methodology: What Defines A CE Product?
As defined by the Consumer Technology Association, here is a breakdown of what constitutes a consumer electronics product and what was included in the Top 100’s sales totals:
Accessories: batteries, cables, headphones, screen cleaners, wearables
Audio products: wired and wireless speakers and soundbars, receivers, CD players (home and portable), home theater in a box, pocket and portable radios, boom-boxes, MP3 players, docking stations, distributed audio products, mini stereos, clock radios, headphones, blank recordable audio media
Car electronics: Speakers, in-dash radio/audio/video receivers, amps, satellite radios, radar detectors, alarms, GPS, mobile TVs, video monitors, backup/night vision camera kits, DVD/Blu-ray Disc players, CB radios
Communications products: corded and cordless phones, answering machines, fax machines, cellphones and smartphones, PDAs, CB radios
Video products: Blu-ray Disc and DVD players (home and portable), cameras, camcorders, DVD recorders, hard-disk recorders, satellite TV dishes and systems, TVs and TV/VCRs/DVD/Blu-ray combos, blank recordable video media, video game consoles, video games, digital media players, virtual reality systems
Information technology: Cellphones, desktop/notebook/ netbook/tablet PCs, e-readers, external drives, flash media, monitors, networking products, optical drives, printers, software, tablets, accessory hardware (cards, hard drives, keyboards, mice, memory, desktop speakers, etc.), home automation.
