MOBILE ELECTRONICS SEGMENT JUMPS NEARLY 70% IN SIX YEARS

The mobile-electronics market has ridden a spectacular wave of growth since 1999, expanding 67% in a six-year period ending in 2005, according to SEMA research. Fueled largely by demand for navigation and video entertainment products, retail sales from 1999–2005 rose from $3.3 billion to $5.5 billion. And a 2005 forecast by the Fredonia Group indicates that the segment will continue growing, with demand reaching $10 billion by 2008.

Six years ago, navigation and video entertainment products comprised just less than 12% of total mobile-electronics retail sales. By 2005, it had nearly doubled to 23%.

Still, audio systems are the heart of the market. The top seven modifications mobile-electronics enthusiasts perform are audio-related, starting with amplifiers (22.1% had installed, 12.8% planned to install), and continuing down through component speakers, head units and subwoofers. DVD players and video monitors were the eighth most popular purchase, with 7.4% having installed one and 12.4% planning on it.

These enthusiasts (from a sample of 5,000 subscribers to auto-enthusiast publications, these 2,349 indicated they had purchased or planned to purchase mobile electronics gear) are a fast-acting group, as well: 67% had purchased and installed a product within the first two months of ownership.

For more original SEMA research and insight into the mobile electronics segment, click here to read the Mobile Electronics Market Update from the December 2006 issue of SEMA News. Also, visit www.sema.org/research to download member-exclusive market research reports.