As we’ve already discussed in our previous analysis, we’ve seen most numbers go down in the last couple months, and the trend continues for May.
Since consumers are nonetheless quite active on the consumption front, there is still a belief budgets might be achieved if the end of summer and fall see a healthy status quo or slight increase in spending. Bigger categories, such as kitchen and laundry, are only around 10% off target, so it remains a possibility that yearly budgets are at least very close to what was expected at the beginning of the year.
Some non-essential categories, however, haven’t been trending up in 2023. With fewer dollars in general to spend on appliances, freezers, range hoods, air conditioners and dehumidifiers are far from approaching last year’s numbers. Let’s dig in a bit more:
Stronger Demand Categories
- The 2 door bottom freezer refrigerators with icemaker continue on their crazy pace (and are up 161.2% this year vs last, with a whopping 28 800 units sold already compared to 11 028 last year);
- Compact refrigerators are also seeing a healthy increase in units sold, up 31.7% YOY;
- In terms of units sold, refrigerators are only 8.4% behind in 2022 vs 2023 YTD.
- Total laundry for current period is only 3.5% off for May, 6.9% YTD, so, trending upwards.
- With all the wildfires across the country, we can reasonably expect a strong increase in all appliances that relate to air purifying. It remains to be seen in what capacity.
On the Decline
- Freezers are down 29.9% compared to May 2022;
- Wine coolers do not have a huge sample size, but are clearly trending downwards (-47.6% in May versus last year, -29.2% YTD).
- As mentioned above, dehumidifiers and room air conditioners really took a dive in units sold this year. Year to date, 11 516 is a huge dive (at this time, last year more than 39 000 units had already been sold).
- Gas cooktops are also trending down, as evidenced by the -16,7% decrease year to date compared to 2022.
AHAM works with manufacturers to ensure that people in Canada and around the world have access to efficient, top-of-the-line home appliances. It provides its members with data on product trends, features, and value. This data gives them insights which serve as a powerful tool for strategic business planning.