English
Korean2022年の米国ブラックフライデー商戦～TVが過去最安値を更新
冒頭部和訳
今週はホリデーシーズンの中心となる販促イベントが展開されるが、ブラックフライデー期間中の小売店ではTVが史上最安値で販売されることになりそうだ。かつてないほどのTV用LCD価格の下落は米国の小売価格に波及し続けており、OLED TVの価格もLCD TVとの競合によって引き下げられ、こちらも史上最安値を記録しようとしている。
パンデミックのせいで2020年から2021年にかけてTVが不足し、ブランドや小売店は先進機能を搭載したプレミアムモデルの販売に力を注いだ。業界が供給不足から供給過剰へと移るにしたがいTV販売店で積み増された在庫は、普段なら利益率の高いハイエンドモデルに偏った。過剰在庫の整理が必要なブランドや小売店は今、大幅な値引きによるプレミアムモデルの販促に力を入れている。
1つ目の表は、今年と昨年のブラックフライデー期間中の最安値TVセットを、画面サイズ別に示して比較したものである。
2022 Black Friday Deals Setting New All - Time Lows for TVs
The central promotional event of the holiday season happens this week, and retailers will be offering all-time low prices for TVs during Black Friday. The unprecedented decline in LCD TV panel prices continues to flow through to retail prices in the US, and the competition from LCD is also pulling down OLED TV prices, which are also hitting all-time lows.
Because the pandemic led to a shortage of TVs in 2020-2021, brands and retailers concentrated on selling premium models with advanced features. As the industry turned from shortage to oversupply, TV sellers built inventory that was skewed toward those high-end models which normally have higher profit margins. Now when those brands and retailers need to liquidate that excess inventory, they are emphasizing promotions of those premium products with steep discounts.
The first table here shows a comparison of Black Friday 2022 with last year’s Black Friday event for the lowest-priced TV sets at each screen size. It’s worth noting that Black Friday 2021 prices across most screen sizes were considerably higher than those of Black Friday 2020, and in fact some all-time low prices were set in Black Friday 2019. For example, the Walmart deal for a 40” TV with the onn brand for $98 matches a similar deal in 2019.
The Best Buy promotion of a 55” TCL QLED TV for $199 stands out as a striking discount. This matches the all-time low for a 55” TV but with a brand (TCL) and a screen technology (QLED) which are a step above the typical lowest-priced offerings.
While the smaller screen sizes have not yet reached all-time lows, some of the larger sizes hit new all-time lows. In this table, the new all-time lows are shown in bold italics. For the first time this year we see a 75” TV offered for less than $500, a new milestone. Until this year we did not track 85” TV sets, partly because they were not often promoted in Black Friday deals, but this year Best Buy promotes the 85” Samsung (non QLED) TV for $997, the first time such a large TV is offered for under $1000.
Our second table here shows price comparisons for some premium sets. By “premium” in this case, this still means the lowest priced set for each combination of brand/screen size/technology. Best Buy has LG’s 48” A-series TV at the lowest price ever, about $80 below the previous low set only one month ago during Amazon’s Prime Day. Target offers LG’s 55” B series OLED TV for under $1000 which matches the Prime Day low. Samsung’s QD-OLED TV sets have been on the market for less than a year, but are offered at all-time lows, at $1449/$1799 for 55”/65”. I purchased the Samsung 65” QD-OLED a month ago when the price hit $1999 because I thought it would not go lower, but the price dropped $200 in just a month.
Samsung also included its 8K Neo QLED MiniLED TVs for Black Friday, and prices for 8K 65” and 75” sets hit all-time lows at $2599 and $3299, respectively.
One notable development for Black Friday 2022 is an increase in common deals among the three major retailers – Walmart, Best Buy and Amazon. While in the past the lowest priced offerings were typically available at only one of these three, in 2022 there were frequent incidents where identical deals were offered at two or even all three of the retailers. The Samsung 65” QLED 6-series, for example, can be found at all three retailers for exactly $797.
Now that LCD TV panel prices have bottomed out and started to increase in October, we are likely to be seeing the season’s low prices for Black Friday. However, with much of the holiday season still to come, it is likely that retailers and brands still have some special bargains in store. If sales go well on Black Friday, we may see higher prices as the holiday season progresses, but if sales disappoint, we could see Black Friday prices repeated or even lower prices before year-end. For premium models, the holiday selling season extends well into January and peaks before the Super Bowl, so we may see prices for OLED and MiniLED TVs decline even in early 2023.
