Citizens wear fakes – Newspaper Kommersant No. 53 (7498) dated 03/29/2023
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Sales of headphones and other wearable devices in Russia may fall both in the first quarter and in 2023 as a whole, electronics distributors believe. Kommersant’s sources attribute the situation to an increase in the market share of counterfeit devices, which began last summer. The technique of “little-known brands” has already occupied almost half of the Russian market, and some electronics stores recognize its “visual resemblance” to the products of popular brands.
The fall in demand for wearable electronics (headphones, smart watches, fitness trackers) in the Russian market by the end of 2023 may reach 20% in unit terms, Kommersant was told at the diHouse distributor. The company attributes the trend to a reduction in supplies of popular brands, while new brands from China, brought to the market after a number of electronics manufacturers left Russia, satisfy demand only in the lower and middle price segments: “Buyers are still tuned in to products from well-known manufacturers.” Stopping the work of Apple and Samsung in the Russian Federation had a strong impact on sales of wearable electronics, and in the first quarter of 2023 they may fall in monetary terms by 20%, confirms F + tech – Marvel Group.
The fall in demand for devices may also be due to the fact that the market is oversaturated with counterfeit goods. So, according to the interlocutor of “Kommersant” in the Russian distributor of electronics, the demand for headphones and portable speakers in Russia is declining due to fears of consumers to buy a fake. Such expectations, according to him, were formed after the increase in the share of fakes by the end of summer 2022: “After the departure of global manufacturers, genuine products were washed out of the market, and counterfeit products equaled their price by the end of the year.”
The fact that participants in the gray market in the summer brought to Russia “a lot of dubious or simply unfamiliar things” is also confirmed by another source among distributors. For example, according to Artur Makhlayuk, a business analyst at F+ tech — Marvel Group of Companies, the share of “little-known brands” of headphones on the market in the first ten weeks of 2023 amounted to 46.2% in pieces.
Mr. Makhlaiuk noted that the share of the former leader JBL fell more than three times year-on-year, from 22.9% to 6.6%. JBL’s speaker market share has also declined, with the brand occupying 32% of devices without voice assistants in early 2022 and 16% in the same period in 2023. Sales of premium brand speakers dropped significantly: Harman Kardon – by 81%, Sony – by 67%, Marshall – by 48%, the analyst added.
Some gadget manufacturers may offer products that “similar in appearance to the developments of leading brands,” M.Video-Eldorado admits, emphasizing that “they are not fakes or counterfeits.” The company reported that the average check for fully wireless (TWS) headphones decreased over the year by almost a third, to 2.8 thousand rubles.
Immediately after the legalization of parallel imports of JBL, a large amount of counterfeit products of the brand was imported into Russia, says Fintech Lab analyst Sergey Vilyanov: “The goods entered according to declarations of conformity issued for genuine products. Outwardly, the fakes did not differ from the original – before, only Apple faked it so well. Since then, he said, many consumers have turned to previously unknown Chinese brands. “If you wish, you can find fault with their quality, but many meet the expectations in terms of sound quality and support all modern codecs,” the expert explains.
The risk of buying a fake contributes to a drop in demand for fully wireless headphones, but is not its main reason, Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily, clarifies: “People in general are trying to save money, and audio devices are not essential goods.”
The expert adds that consumers in general have become more afraid of the inoperability of the purchased equipment, regardless of the category: “This is not always associated with the risk of buying a fake. In the case of phones and tablets, many are afraid that a model designed for another region will not work in Russia.”
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