Irvine’s Vizio Inc. isn’t fazed by signs that the market for flat TVs could be, well, flattening.
“We have hoop dreams here,” said Laynie Newsome, cofounder and vice president of marketing communications. “We are set to grow next year, and we plan to continue to steal share from our competitors.”
Vizio designs and markets low-cost liquid-crystal-display TVs here and has them made by Taiwanese contract electronics maker and investor AmTran Technology Co.
The company and its rivals, including South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co., face some challenges going into 2011.
Industry estimates point to 2010 as the first year of declines for LCD TVs in the U.S. since they first started going mainstream about five years ago. Shipments are expected to end the year down 1% from 2009 to 31.9 million TVs, according to El Segundo-based research firm iSuppli Corp., part of Englewood, Colo.-based IHS Inc.
“In 2010, the realities of the economy finally caught up with the LCD market,” said Riddhi Patel, director and principal TV analyst at iSuppli.
Parts Crunch
The drop in shipments owed in part to the tough economy as well as constraints in TV parts in the early part of the year. The supply problems kept prices stable instead of the double-digit percentage cuts that shoppers had grown accustomed to each year since flat TVs rolled out.
The adoption cycle for flat TVs also is nearing a peak.
Two-thirds of U.S. homes and other users already have switched to flat TVs, according to the Arlington, Va.-based Consumer Electronics Association.
Vizio has fared well in the industry’s boom. The company launched in 2002 and had sales of about $2.5 billion by 2009. It passed Samsung in terms of U.S. shipments of LCD models—the most common type of flat TV—in the third quarter.
Vizio claimed 30% of the market in the period, and it’s counting on more inroads against its bigger rival to fuel growth in a maturing market.
“Even if the market will be relatively flat, we have to be in a position to steal share,” Newsome said.
Strategy
Price likely will be a key to the company’s strategy.
Flat TVs can range from $200 to more than $3,000, and Vizio has typically come in at less than Samsung, Sony Corp. and others.
Vizio counts on discount retailers, including Target Corp., Costco Wholesale Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., for big chunks of its sales.
It doesn’t compete in higher-end plasma TVs, leaving that niche to Samsung and others.
The company has ramped up its marketing, signing on as a sponsor of the Rose Bowl, a premier college football game that draws big viewership.
Another challenge: competition from other types of new consumer electronics.
“Alternative consumer electronics products—including iPads, e-book readers and portable media players—all vied for the same discretionary income that LCD TVs did” in 2010, iSuppli’s Patel said.
Vizio is ready with upgrades that will spur a “replacement cycle” for flat TVs, Newsome said. The company expects to see existing flat TV owners ditch old sets for newer models.
“The answer is newer technologies that will be really exciting to the consumer,” Newsome said.
Among them are theater-style 3-D sets, light-emitting diode backlit screens, Internet-connected TVs and other additions.
Vizio also is offering TVs in more sizes, from a portable eight-inch model up to 73 inches.
Other Products
The company is diversifying into other related products, too, offering accessories such as soundbar speakers, subwoofers, Blu-ray DVD players, headphones and a wireless router.
Vizio has an impressive start on accessories.
It started sales of soundbars about a year ago and now has roughly half the U.S. market, according to data from the Consumer Electronics Association. Its Blu-ray DVD business, still small compared to rivals, is up roughly 400% in the past year, Newsome said.
“We are covering a broader set of prospective customers to serve, so I think that helps us resist compression in the category,” she said.
Economy
Vizio could get a boost from a stronger economy.
The overall market for flat TVs is expected to get back on the growth track next year, according to iSuppli.
The company still sees questions on consumer spending as the biggest challenge to its growth plan, according to Newsome.
“It’s still a bad economy,” she said. “People still see flat panel TVs as a luxury. But we are trying to make them see it as an affordable luxury.”
Next year, TV sales are expected to resume measured growth, iSuppli’s Patel said.
ISuppli is projecting some 35 million LCD shipments in 2011, up about 10% from this year’s estimate.
