In the first half of 2000 alone, GfK data shows that specialist retailers in seven European countries sold consumer durables worth EUR 38.5 billion. Total sales of consumer durables in Belgium, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands increased by an average of 6% year on year. Analysis of the findings suggests that this growth is mainly due to the rising popularity of new digital products. The leading consumer durables sectors by sales were found to be information technology (with sales of EUR 19.6 billion), electronic entertainment (11.7 billion), telecommunications (5.1 billion) and photographic equipment (2.2 billion). IT hardware and software products accounted for by far the biggest proportion of total sales in the seven European countries, at 50.7%. Although demand for these products is declining in the business-to-business market, sales here increased by 2.3% this year. Second-ranking electronic entertainment increased in value by 5.8% to 30.3% of total sales. This can be largely attributed to increases in the prices of high quality end products matched by increasing consumer demand. Third-ranking telecommunications accounted for 13.4% of total sales. It is also believed to be the fastest growing sector, increasing in value by 22.6% due to continued high levels of mobile phone sales. By the Autumn of 2000, other GfK research shows that digital product sectors within Europe accounted for 48% of all electrical consumer products. With growth rates in double digits, these products are now expected to represent more than half of all consumer durable sales by the New Year. The fastest growing digital products have also been identified as those that are portable, such as digital cameras, camcorders, MiniDisc players and mobile phones.