EsThe annual Black Friday shopping event has steadily stretched over time, first including Cyber Monday and now starting as soon as the Monday before Black Friday (Grey Monday?) in the case of Amazon. This has been in part driven by competition among retailers, but may also act as a way to smooth supply chain disruptions caused by bunched orders.
While the rise of e-commerce platforms has widened the range of Black Friday products, it is still appliances and electronics that get the most attention. Panjiva analysis of imports over the period from August 1 through November 14 of U.S. seaborne imports shows where aggressive importing may have created potential sale-able inventories.
In the home appliances category the most aggressive growth has been in residential washing machines. These climbed 59.2% on a year earlier over the 3.5 month period, and reached a new high in October, Panjiva data shows. That coincides with this week’s report from the U.S. ITC on the section 301 “safeguarding” review of alleged dumping of washing machines, as outlined in Panjiva research of October 4. The late deliveries by shippers including Samsung Electronics and Miele may result in aggressive discounting. There may also be opportunities in fridge/freezers (33.9% higher) but less so in microwaves (up 8.7%).
Source: Panjiva
In the consumer electronics group, imports of videogame consoles equalled their 2014 high in October, and climbed 23.0% in the peak 3.5 months. However, that growth has been driven by imports of the Nintendo Switch which is unlikely to receive discounts. The older PlayStation system may, though imports fell 47% in the past four months.
Imports of TV sets only increased by 3.9%, suggesting little chance of oversupply, outside out-of-date models. Imports of laptop computers however have surged, climbing 23.3% over the 3.5 month period and reached a new high in October. The growth has been driven by imports by HP Inc, which climbed 122% on a year earlier.
Source: Panjiva
