MARKETING ANALYSIS

Marketing Analysis

Marketing Analysis

Leading flat-screen TV makers, whose sales are holding up even in the global downturn, are placing bets on TVs using light-emitting diode (LED), hoping the slimmer, more power-efficient sets help them fight falling prices and expand their market shares. Once the preserve of smaller tech gadgets such as toys, music players and mobile phones, the LED-backlit LCD screen technology is creeping into the TV market. (Adcock 2001)

Diagram 1 Market Demand for White LED

Samsung Electronics, Sony and other major TV vendors see a bright future for LED. They say TVs featuring LED backlights are about a third thinner than those lit by traditional cold cathode fluorescent lamps (CCFLs) and have a longer lifespan. They offer more vivid images, with greater contrast and colour range.

"Going forward, the entire market will shift to LED. LED is the best television technology made available so far," (Adcock 2001)

Sue Shim, Samsung's senior vice president in charge of visual display sales and marketing, told the Reuters Global Technology Summit this week.

Diagram 2 Trends for Global Market of White LED

LCD TVs make up about 60 percent of global TV shipments, according to research group DisplaySearch. (Paliwoda 2008)

LED TV sales are expected to grow more than tenfold this year to about 2 million units out of the total LCD TV sales of 120 million.

Shim said LED TVs save 40 percent more energy compared with conventional LCD TV models, appealing to consumers who increasingly care about green energy and cost savings. Another advantage is that LED contains no harmful mercury. (Paul 1997)

Research firm iSuppli forecast LCD TV LED revenue will soar nearly nine times to $1.4 billion in 2012 from $163 million in 2009. Globally, LEDs are being increasingly used in a wide array of applications including lighting, notebooks, mobile phones and televisions.

Diagram 3 Global car LED ...