Industrywide, 4K TVs accounted for 14 percent of TV unit sales and 40 percent of the dollars in the past three months.
Industrywide, 4K TVs accounted for 14 percent of TV unit sales and 40 percent of the dollars in the past three months.
Big TVs have long been a centerpiece of the Black Friday doorbuster sales that lure legions of shoppers to the mall after scarfing down their Thanksgiving dinner.
But this year, retailers and experts say that customers participating in this annual shopping ritual are likely going to be looking for big-screens that are, well, bigger.
As TV-viewing habits evolve and as prices have dropped precipitously on sets equipped with 4K technology, Americans are increasingly ponying up for the sets that gobble up the most wall space.
According to data from NPD Group, there has been a 10 per cent year-to-date increase in the number of TVs sold that are larger than 50 inches, even as TV unit sales overall have declined 3 percent.
"It was not that long ago that we used to say that anything over 40 inches is large," said Shawn Dubravac, senior director of research at the Consumer Technology Association. "Today the average screen size is about 47 inches, up from 29 inches not too many years ago."
Retailers are noticing the change, with Target and Best Buy saying their sales mix is increasingly moving toward larger sets.
HHGregg says its fastest-growing sales category is 60 to 65 inches, and Sam's Club says it is reducing floor space dedicated to small TVs to make more room for the 60- to 65-inch sets the chain says is now the "sweet spot" for their members.
There is a huge demand right now for really, really big televisions: Pricing is attractive, the features are attractive.
The interest in going big has grown as it has become easier on the wallet to do so. While prices for televisions are down 5 percent year-over-year, they're down nearly 19 percent for sets that are 65 to 69 inches, according to the CTA. And large TVs, especially, are increasingly built with 4K, a technology that has more pixels than HD TVs and thus provides sharper picture resolution.
"4K has probably experienced the steepest price decline in the entire history of consumer technology," Dubravac said.
Sam's Club, for example, said it was selling a 60-inch 4K TV for $998 around this time last year. Now, that same price is offered on a 65-inch model.
"Many of our members, if they're not restricted by space, they're just going to step up" in size, said Alain Nzigamasabo, vice president of electronics at Sam's Club.
Meanwhile, the chief executive of HHGregg, Dennis May, says 4K has motivated shoppers to go big in a way that some other recent novelties -- such as 3D TV -- have not.
"We finally got some innovation that the customer cares about," May said.
That said, selling 4K wasn't an instantly easy proposition. When the technology debuted, some shoppers had trouble seeing its value because many movies and TV shows still are not available in 4K. So retailers have been on a mission to show shoppers that it's nevertheless a worthwhile investment.
If you're watching a DVD or Blu-Ray, you're still going to get a better experience on a 4K TV than you would on a full HD TV.
Consumers seem to be responding to that message: Industrywide, 4K TVs accounted for 14 percent of TV unit sales and 40 percent of the dollars in the past three months. That is a big leap over the same period last year, when they accounted for just 3 percent of units sold and 13 percent of dollars.
Our TV-buying patterns may also reflect the changing ways we are consuming entertainment. Baker points out that often our solitary content-viewing is no longer happening on a TV.
"The first thing cord-cutting is doing is dissuading people from buying that second television," Baker said. "You don't really need a TV in the bedroom if you're going to watch stuff on your iPad, your phone or your computer."
So when we do buy TVs, it's likely with communal viewing in mind, such as for family movie night or a SuperBowl party. And that could be incentive to go big.
