This total spend level means that these retail sales have increased by an average of 6% year-on-year in Belgium, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, Spain. Analysis points to the underlying growth in demand for high-tech digital electronic entertainment, information technology, telecommunications and photographic products as being the cause.

The research also estimates that the current overall growth rates are in double digits. Given the ongoing presence of such value increases, these products are expected to represent more than half of all European consumer durable sales by the end of 2001.

Further key findings from the research are that:

• The fastest growing products are portable ones, such as digital cameras and camcorders, MiniDisc players and mobile phones.
• Total sales of these 4 categories increased by 39% from September 1999 to September 2000.
• The leading consumer durables sectors in 2000 were 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 IT hard and software is declining in the business-to-business market, consumer sales have increased by 2.3% during 2000.
• The second most successful sector by sales is electronic entertainment, which increased its share by 5.8% to 30.3% of the total.
• The third largest sector is telecommunications, which accounted for 13.4% of sales.
• Telecoms is the fastest growing sector, with an increase of 22.6%, due mainly to the continued high levels of mobile phone sales.
• Developments in digital photography have also resulted in a very positive sales year for the photographic sector.
• Photographic sales accounted for only 5.6% of the 2000, but this figure represents a 13% increase on the previous year.