Dubai:The demand for big screen size TVs are growing in the UAE due to the popularity of Netflix and Amazon, retailers said.
Nilesh Khalkho, CEO of Sharaf DG, said Netflix has given a boost to retailers in selling bigger screen sizes.
“The demand for TVs has been low as people have started watching less on TVs and consuming more content on smartphones. After Netflix became popular, the demand has grown. Netflix comes with HD and 4K content,” he said.
Ashish Panjabi, COO at Jacky’s Business Solutions, said that people are moving into new houses and prefer large screen-size TVs and are always looking to upgrade.
“All the digital platforms such as Netflix and Amazon are going to have local content and that is going to draw viewers back to TVs which were absent due to the growth in smartphones and tablets,” he said.
Quoting a market research firm GfK report, Khalkho said that the UAE market is degrowing by 28 per cent, but Sharaf DG has done better than the market.
Overall, he said the total volume has come down but people are buying TVs with bigger screens with internet connectivity and 4K.
“OLED models were not available from all the brands, but now few vendors have started launching this technology. The pricing of OLED was very high and with more brands coming to the market and revising prices, the acceptance among consumers is increasing. The acceptability for QLEDs is also increasing as the brands have decreased their prices to make it more affordable,” he said.
Quantum Dots, also called QLED, is a new film added to an LED screen to produce deeper, brightness and richer colours.
Julian Lee, an analyst at TrendForce, said that an OLED TV can be thinner than QLED, but the lifespan of OLED is shorter and “burn-in” issues remain for an OLED TV. Burn-in is when part of a screen carries a ghostly imprint of a previous image.
Due to additional filters in the QLED, it is thicker than OLED but produces more brightness, contrast and colour.
Khalkho said that 4K TV volumes have increased by 70 per cent in the market and that shows customers prefer new technology purchases.
“OLED has seen a growth of 30 per cent in the market but has grown at 102 per cent at our stores. It now contributes to 8 per cent of our sales compared to 4 per cent in the market. QLED has seen a huge growth (over 500 per cent) over last year as prices dropped. QLED contributes to six per cent of our sales compared to 5 per cent in the market.
Panjabi said that is very difficult to say which is better among the TV technologies and it all depends on the preference of the buyers.
“Earlier we had Plasma and LCD, some people like the blacks and some liked the vibrancy in colours. Among the vibrancy in colours, QLED has its advantages and OLED for the blacks. QLED is more widely manufactured it has the pricing advantage,” he said.
According to Jeff Yang, the assistant research manager of WitsView, a division of TrendForce, global shipments of branded TV are expected to be 217 million units for 2018, a year-on-year growth of three per cent compared to 210.6 million units in 2017, a new low since 2014.
Retailers are offering bigger discounts on TVs to cash in on the growing demand.
Khalkho said that a Sony 85-inch Premium 4K Smart TV, which was priced at Dh16,999, is sold for Dh9,999, a Samsung 82-inch 4K Smart, which was priced at Dh11,999, is sold for Dh9,999 and LG 65-inch Premium OLED Smart, which was priced at Dh10,999, is sold for Dh8,999.
He said the drop in TV prices is attracting customers.
