Industry’s View Of TV Prices

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30918, 26 November 1965, Page 10

Industry’s View Of TV Prices

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, Nov. 25

The problems besetting television manufacturers and retailers are likely to be resolved within the next four months, with little, if any, lasting effect on the price a viewer must pay for a new set.

This opinion, widely held within the industry, is supported by the experience of Australia where a similar boomrecession - recovery sequence took place five years ago. Although some shops tn Auckland are now offering reductions of a third or more for sets which have been superseded by new models, this cannot be regarded as an indication that price levels will come down to stay. Producers are firm m their contention that, once stocks are cleared, normal list prices for current models will remain much as before the slump in trade. •The problem as far as retailers are concerned is very much one of liquidity,'* said Mr T. J. F. Spencer, general manager of Pye Electronics. Ltd. “Our prices to them have not been cut, but they must realise their capital tied up in stock. As a result, prices of some television sets are lower than they will probably ever be again.” Mr Spencer’s confidence in the basic stability of prices is

shared by Mr D. Hudig, man-aging-director of Philips Electrical Industries of New Zealand, Ltd. “I can honestly say that so far as our products are concerned prices will not come down in the near future,” he said.

“The profits that we as manufacturers make are not high” The industry prospered as production climbed towards demand, but crisis came because the brakes could not be applied quickly enough when that demand suddenly fell. The slump has been blamed on recent credit restrictions on rentals rather than in the reaching of “market saturation.”