CE Leading the Way to Economic Recovery?

The consumer electronics (CE) market is showing signs of sustainable growth for the first time in more than a year, according to data from the Retrevo CE Index, an engagement tracking report from Retrevo that maps daily CE trends across 40 categories and more than 4,000 products.

Overall demand for CE products – i.e., the total number of Web searches – has risen dramatically over the last 10 months. Even more significant is the fact that demand has been steady in 2009 after seeing major fluctuations through the second half of 2008. With three months of incremental growth and stable demand, the industry may be on its way to recovery.

Echoing the optimism coming from the CE industry is the recent performance of the U.S. auto and housing markets. Both industries exceeded market expectations in March, with auto sales defying expectations and sales of new single-family homes rising almost 5 percent. When combined with the growth in the CE industry, there is evidence to suggest that the U.S. economy might have reached its low point and that the recovery might come sooner than anticipated.