The effects of the devaluation in prices and liquefaction of income seriously impacted expendable consumption, in the face of the budget restriction of families. This is made clear by the sector home appliances and articles of the home: sales fell 45.3% in it first quarter of 2024 compared to the last one of 2023 and 40.1% compared to the same period last year.
The data comes from a special survey carried out by the consulting firm Vector. Likewise, they were located just 2.2% above the minimum recorded at the beginning of the pandemic.
To do this, they broke down the sector into four large groups: White line, electronics, Technology and Little ones Home appliances.
According to the report, all segments showed falls regarding the first quarter of 2023: -40.9%, -50.0%, -42.8% and -36.6%respectively.
In turn, purchases of appliances and household items made with card (debit and credit) were reduced by 26.2% in relation to the same period of the previous year and a 15.3% with respect to last trimester of 2023.
The decline is detected despite the implementation of the programs “Now“, first and “Simple Share”, later. The participation of both on the total of credit card purchases fell of the 20.3% to the 14.9%.
At the same time, companies engaged in the marketing of household appliances, which historically served the segment of unregistered income earners, also reduced assistance and the amounts of financing granted.
This reduction, as understood in the sector, would be explained by the fall in revenues in the unrecorded segment of the labor market, the increase of the interest rates seen until the end of 2023 and the high levels of portfolio irregularities.
The decrease in sales registered in the sector was related to the decrease in real terms of the registered sector wage at the beginning of Javier Milei’s government in the same period. The loss it was of 15.7% from December to March.
This same thing maintained its correlation in CABAwhere sales during the first quarter of 2024 fell 50.9%, while in the 24 GBA games and in the rest of the country Sales were reduced, but in smaller percentages: -44.3% and -46.6%respectively.
Regarding the impact on sales by channel, the small businesses and chains were the most affected, registering a drop of 80% during the first quarter of this year.
Sales in big surfaces Commercial sales, for their part, were reduced by 37.5%compared to those of the same quarter of 2023 and a 47.1% in relation to the last quarter of 2023. The importance of sustaining the online trading It was demonstrated by representing almost the 32% of total sales in the sector for the period 2021-2023.
Although the consolidation of electronic commerce as a relevant channel represents an opportunity, for the consulting firm Vectorial “Rising logistics costs could represent an obstacle to the online marketing of those products with lower ticket prices”.
