Longbow Research analyst David MacGregor estimated that retail sales of major appliances were down by the mid-teens year over year in February.
The estimates were based on MacGregor’s monthly survey of white-goods dealers in the United States and Europe.
The survey also suggested that vendors were unable to make a recent round of steep price-hikes fully stick. The increases, which ranged from 8 percent to 10 percent, went into effect Jan. 1, but MacGregor’s survey shows that the price lift actually averaged within the 2 percent to 4 percent range.
The lower increases “should provide a partial offset to continuing weakness in [sales] volumes,” he observed. — Alan Wolf
