With the worst of the recession over, Asian consumers have been splashing out on gadgets and appliances, according to a survey.
Research firm GfK Asia has reported soaring growth in sales of tech gear across the region in the first three months of the year.
Sales of mobile phones and other telecom products grew 35% in February and 29% in March, while in southeast Asia, telecom products account for one-third of spending on all appliances.
“Positive growth trends are seen in all of GfK’s panels across Asia for the past six months,” said Stanley Kee, GfK Asia regional commercial director.
The best-performing categories were telecom, major domestic appliances, IT and consumer electronics, Kee said.
He said sales had begun to improve in most sectors in the last quarter of 2009, although IT purchases had showed signs of growth as early as last May.
The big hit product has been LCD-TV. With the World Cup due to kick off next month sales of LCD-TV accounted for more than half of all consumer electronics spending in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.