Importers & Exporters Top 100 2024

Resilient US economy , AI give US electronics imports fresh spark

By William B . Cassidy

According to research company Circana , formerly IRI and The NPD Group , revenue from US sales of electronics dropped 10 % in 2023 .

“ Consumers continued to spend fewer total dollars on tech products in 2023 through a combination of falling prices and shifting share of wallet to services and core needs ,” Paul Gagnon , Circana vice president , said in a statement .

“ Consumers continued to spend fewer total dollars on tech products in 2023 .”

US containerized imports of electronic devices slipped for the second straight year in 2023 , as consumers remained cautious about spending on personal technology amid high price inflation .

That may change this year , as devices purchased in the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic begin to “ age out ” and consumers opt for newer products with new features .

Ocean-borne imports of electronic devices — ranging from personal computers and smartphone to televisions , gaming consoles , drones and other gadgets — declined 1.1 % to 1.6 million TEUs in 2023 following a 2.3 % drop in 2022 , according to PIERS , a sister product of the Journal of Commerce within S & P Global .

However , inbound electronics volumes were still 25.6 % higher than in 2018 and 15.7 % higher than in 2019 thanks to a 19.8 % spike from 2019 to 2021 , as home-bound consumers increasingly spent money on physical goods and staying connected during the pandemic .

What ’ s more , electronics imports are on the rise again as 2024 gets underway , with shipment volumes surging 16.6 % year over year in the first quarter .

But Circana expects a shift in 2024 . “ Upgrade cycles for pandemic-driven purchases will ramp up in late 2024 for key large-dollar categories like computers , creating growth opportunity ,” Gagnon said .

Computers will account for nearly half of the $ 1.7 billion in additional consumer technology spending Circana expects this year .

A ‘ matter of timing ’

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy expects 2024 to be “ a year of increasing industry stabilization ,” CEO Corie Barry said during a fourth-quarter earnings call Feb . 29 .

US importers sourced 44.9 % of electronics from China in 2023 , down from 63.8 % in 2018 . Shutterstock . com

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