The Mini-LED Obsession Continues

The Mini-LED Obsession Continues
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​While Labor Day is not considered a major shopping holiday, as it falls during the back-to-school period for most, CE brands have an opportunity to stimulate sales with discounts to attract buyers to new, higher margin products, or those where excess inventory needs to be moved.  TV sets are not the usual fare for this holiday, as laptops and tablets are more typical of what might be needed by students, but in light of the fact that Samsung’s line of Mini-LED/quantum dot TVs are both relatively new and have therefore been in a sort of pricing limbo, having little initial reference point, we took a look at where pricing stood during the holiday.
Using the same 33 set Samsung TV lineup that we have used since the May 20 release, we show the following:

• The composite group, which includes six 8K Mini-LED/QD TVs, nine 4K Mini-LED/QD TVs, and eighteen 4K quantum dot enhanced TVs, is priced 14.5% lower than original pricing.
• The 8K Mini-LED TVs are priced 21.8% lower than original pricing
• The 4K Mini-LED TVs are priced 15.3% lower than original pricing
• The ‘QD only’ 4K TVs are priced 11.7% lower than original pricing
• Of the 33 sets in the group, 15 are at their lowest price point since original pricing
• Of the 33 sets, none are above their highest price point
• Of the 33 sets, 3 are equal to their highest price point
• Of the 33 sets, 2 have not changed from their original price
• Of the 33 sets, 20 are at a lower price than when we last checked (8/24/21)

All in we believe Samsung is still looking for a valid price point for its Mini-LED/QD line and will continue to offer increasing discounts as the holidays approach.  With 80 days to Black Friday and 83 to Cyber Monday and the high cost of existing TV inventory, we would expect Samsung and other TV brands to push hard to get product sold, and even with retailers extending the pre-Black Friday period all the way back to November 1, we expect it should be a relatively tough season for TV sales unless TV panel prices continue to drop precipitously for the remainder of the year.  This will create some less expensive inventory, but transportation costs, component shortages, and overall weaker demand will have to see a spark in consumer interest in the TV space if the season is to be salvaged.  Samsung says it expects to ship 1.8m Mini-LED/QD sets this year.