Weekly television digest (Jan-Dec 1960)

VOL. 16r No. 25 17 TV-RADIO-PHONO SALES: Despite seasonal monthly drops from March, April’s retail sales of TVs & radios ■were higher than 1959 — increasing the momentum of a good first quarter (see p. 14) . Phono sales for the 4month period -were higher than the year-ago period (1,461,814 vs. 1,210,322), but April retail sales -were 9% lower than those of April 1959 (193,288 vs. 212,423). Here are official EIA production & sales figures : TELEVISION Total Production Uhf Production Retail Sales Month 1960 1959 1960 1959 1960 1959 January .. .. 626,494 437,026 60,119 35,841 590,867 501,704 February .. .. 603,453 459,492 43,637 34,678 507,673 448,173 March .. 549,500 494,032 45,411 32,112 601,829 425,751 April .. 422,651 389,251 39,240 20,501 351,214 263,998 TOTAL . ,. 2,001,998 1,779,801 178,307 123,132 1,951,583 1,639,626 RADIO Total Production Auto Radio Retail Sales Production (excl. auto) Month 1960 1959 1960 1959 1960 1959 January .. .. 1,355,788 1,124,737 632,461 420,052 803,388 700,490 February .. .. 1,442,368 1,126,385 596,872 432,651 611,479 474,888 March .. 1,667,650 1,347,554 633,761 611,219 664,441 515,663 April .. 1,230,323 1,040,183 399,963 422,346 647,839 388,863 TOTAL . . 5,696,029 4,637,859 2,263,057 1,786,168 2,627,147 2,079,804 FM radio production (1959 figures in parentheses) : Jan. 33,816 (30.235), Feb. 60,963 (29,145), March 83,127 (32,994), April 61,953 (31,425). Four-month total: 229,859 (123,799). PHONO FACTORY SALES 1960 193S Month Mono Stereo Mono Stereo January 118,400 341,329 184,147 177,336 February 90,854 324,666 164,873 188,750 March 63,264 242,523 119,075 168,117 April 30,606 142,409 47,153 125,111 TOTAL 303,124 1,050,927 515,248 659,341 PHONO RETAIL SALES 1960 1959 Month Mono Stereo Mono Stereo January 150,688 368,964 231,429 159,214 February 100,268 347,860 171,127 156,477 March 61,249 249,497 139,677 140,075 April 41,147 152,141 94,226 118,197 TOTAL 343,352 1,118,462 636,359 573,963 * * * Factory sales of picture tubes were up in both dollar & unit volume for the first 4 months of 1960, as compared with 1959, according to EIA figures, but receiving tube dollar & unit sales were lower for the same period. The official tube statistics: January February March April Jan.-Apr. 1960 Jan.-Apr. 1959 Picture Tubes Units Dollars 795,250 $15,831,430 741,233 14,495,480 794,375 15,654,281 707,252 13,782,769 3,038,110 59,763,960 2,936,889 66,373,446 Receiving Tubes Units Dollars 31.367.000 $26,872,000 32.734.000 27,881,000 36.382.000 31,751,000 29.737.000 25,759,000 130.220.000 112,263,000 133.946.000 116,771,000 lUE’s demands on GE were presented to the public on a 9-city closed-circuit TV press conference last week, with Pres. James B. Carey outlining these main union requests: (1) A general wage increase equaling the annual increase in GE workers’ productivity, but with a minimum of 3%%. (2) Union participation in planning plant relocations. (3) Supplemental unemployment program (guaranteed annual wage) similar to those in auto, steel & rubber industries. Carey said that substantially the same package would be requested of Westinghouse. Philco’s “Reverbaphonic” stereo systems (Vol. 16:22 pl6) will be promoted in a national campaign featuring opera star Patrice Munsel. . . DEALERS ASSESS 1959: Business in 1959 bounced back from recession-hobbled 1958, but not with the strength apparently anticipated by most TV-radio & appliance dealers, according to NARDA’s latest Cost-of-DoingBusiness survey. The 1959 analysis of member-dealer operations shows a sharp sales increase of 12.7% over the 1958 level (vs. 9.9% for all U.S. dealers). However, dealers also wound up overstocked, with year-end inventories up a profit-choking 26.1%. The 1959 net operating profit set a new low in the survey’s 14-year history — slipping to 0.9% from 1.1% in 1958 (Vol. 15:26pl8). Other ups & downs recorded in 1959: Merchandise turnover rate improved to 5 times from 4.6. TV’s shai’e of total appliance sales slipped to 24.8% from 25.7% in 1958, countered by radio & phono sales gains to 11.9% from 10.8%. Total operating costs inched do-wn to 27.02% of net sales vs. 27.35% in 1958. Total cost of goods sold (merchandise plus service parts) inched up to 72% on net sales vs. 71.53%. Total gross margin fell to 28% of the selling price, from 28.47% in 1958. Merchandise gross margin slipped to 29.60% from 30.28%. Most dealers (75%) look for better things in 1960, forecasting an average 12% gain in sales. Only 11% anticipate a decline (averaging 6%), and 14% foresee no change. The majority (62%) also expect a 10% gain in profits, 9% fear a drop of as much as 15%, 25% see no change, and a hardy 4% foresee profit gains ranging from 100-300%. TV (90% b&w, 10% color) was nominated by dealers as their “best selling” prospect for 1960. Runners-up: laundry equipment, stereo, air conditioners, refrigerators, freezers, hi fi (tied with ranges). However, reporting on products they plan to push with special effort, the dealers listed stereo 4th, color TV 11th. The main sales effort will go to air conditioners. In 1959, TV-radio-phono products accounted for the bulk of dealers’ sales — 36.7%, up slightly from 36.5% in 1958. Price cutting, sales personnel and adverse economic conditions (in that order) were listed by the dealers as their chief 1959 & 1960 operating problems. Others for 1960: overproduction & dumping by manufacturers, Sunday selling, slow collections, the glut in trade-ins. TV-tube mislabeling by 3 firms is alleged in an FTC complaint. It cites them for failure to disclose when tubes they manufacture are reconditioned or contain used parts or have known defects. Named as respondents in the case are Budco Inc. & Metropolitan Electronic Distributors Inc., 113 S. Beatty St., Pittsburgh; Hymen & Harry Kotovsky and Jack Rosenblum, and K. M. K. Corp., 3323 Superior Ave., Cleveland. FTC’s complaint concludes that the companies’ failure to disclose “material facts” about the tubes “gives the uninformed or unscrupulous dealer-customer the means to deceive the public and diverts trade unfairly from competitors.” Similar FTC charges also were filed against Electronic Video Inc., Brooklyn; Theta Electronics Inc., Greensburg. Pa., and Tube Mfg. Corp., Philadelphia. In addition. Electronic Video was accused of claiming its rebuilt TV tubes were “brand new fully guaranteed” merchandise when they weren’t. GE has cut prices 50% on medium-current siliconcontrolled rectifiers.