GfK: good first quarter for Italy

Italian market of technical consumer goods started positively the first quarter of 2015. The total  turnover of the sector reached 4.24 billion euro, an increase of 4.1%, compared to the same period last year. Telecommunications were again the products that gave the main positive contribution to the growth, but also major and small domestic appliances continued to show interesting increasing trends. In the first quarter of 2015, small appliances registered an increased turnover up by 9.2%, compared to the same period last year. Strong growth was noted in the kitchen appliances segment, mainly due to sales of food preparation equipment – primarily the kitchen machines and food processors segments, which were boosted by promotional initiatives.
Turnover also increased for many other products, notably in the juice extractors and espresso machines segments, but also in the area of ‘personal care’ where beard styling products and female epilation products saw an increased turnover.
The major domestic appliances recorded an increased turnover up by 2.3%, compared to the first quarter of 2014. The washing products segment continued to boost the market, thanks to an improvement in the sales of heat pump tumble dryers. Good performances were also noted for washing machines and dishwashers. Refrigerators and freezers, on the contrary, were the main negative segments.