The Impact of Coronavirus on Consumer Appliances

Delivery

This report comes in PPT.

Key Findings

Economic outlook

All indicators are pointing to severe economic turbulence ahead; the only real debate is about how severe this will be in 2020/2021, and how long physical disruption of economic activity will need to last (ie only one lockdown, or multiple). Fear of the future is already delaying large-ticket sales and with paralysed housing markets, consumer appliances is directly impacted. Early indicators are that heavy discounting is not stimulating sales.

Industry impact

Supply chains are fractured both at source and at each stage through to interaction points with consumers; this is geographically shifting in line with lockdown implementation and relaxation. Consumer demand is fluctuating from lockdowns and looming economic trauma, but two elements are positive. Some categories such as freezers, air treatment and tumble dryers spiked due to stockpiling and perceived hygiene benefits, while long-term consumer appliance demand increases in a world that embraces working from home.

Geographic impact

Local culture interacts with this crisis - for example, lockdown and Ramadan combine and create an even greater move towards home cooking. Also, brands are radically changing how and where they are spending money. Part of this is a major shift to “online only”, but it has larger implications for event sponsorship, especially if planned and paid for in advance. A good example is Panasonic with the Tokyo Olympics 2020, but also Europe’s largest trade fair IFA (Berlin, September) will be a shadow of 2019.

Corporate action

Most actions so far relate to operations and protecting staff, producing protective equipment, and encouraging stay-at-home messages. “Protection” appliance messaging is there… but very little emotionally intelligent effort is evident so far on the soft side with guidance on how to stay safe at home. There is a balance to be had here, between being seen to help consumers while at the same time not appearing to be opportunistic during a period of tragedy.