DESPITE the gloomy economic outlook, Singaporeans are snapping up high-end gadgets and consumer- electronic products this year.

Laptops, LCD TVs and digital SLR cameras flew off the shelves in the first half of the year, outstripping the number sold during the same period last year.

Mr Lee Risk, director of technology- research firm GfK Asia, which compiled the data, said the rise in sales of high-end information-technology and consumer- electronic goods shows that people are spending.

He said: "Big-ticket discretionary purchases are first to be affected when the economy slows. Our results paint a very strong picture of the strength of the local economy.

"Singaporeans are very IT-savvy and are keeping watch on the economy, but because Singapore is not feeling any real symptoms - such as an increased jobless rate, property crisis, or the like - retailers are not seeing a reduction in spending."

The current trend is "bucking the doom and gloom in the market", said Mr Risk.

He added: "There was a property boom towards the end of last year, so there were a lot of house moves, which also meant more renovations, new PCs and LCD TVs."

For example, sales volumes of LCD TVs surged by 29 per cent in the first half of this year.

But the growth might slow down in the second half of the year, said Mr Risk, and if the economic crisis in the United

States deepens next year, it could start to affect sales in Asia and Singapore.

Nonetheless, he expects sales at this weekend's Comex fair to be strong, as do other IT vendors here.

Mr Mohd Adil is one person who succumbed to such sales.

He bought a 42-inch LCD TV for $1,600 at a clearance sale in March.

What he paid was far less than its original price of nearly $3,000, so "it was a good deal", said the 28-year-old manager, who works in a telco company.

A laptop is next on his list, which he hopes to buy at the end of the year. He isn't too concerned about budgets or the economy, saying: "If it's something that you really need, then by all means buy it."

Ms Serena Yong, general manager of the personal-systems group in HP Singapore, said the price gap between comparable desktops and notebooks has continued to shrink.

She said: "The difference is now in the $200-$250 range, depending on the features. Customers have more choice and affordable options to meet their needs."

Notebook computers, said Mr Risk, were among the hottest products this year. Just over 112,305 units were sold in the first half of this year, 38 per cent more than the first half of last year, boosted by falling prices.

Meanwhile, electronics giant Samsung is expecting its TVs, mobile phones, and LCD monitors to do well at Comex, said Ms Irene Ng, Samsung Asia's electronics-business division's marketing director for strategic marketing.

Said Ms Ng: "LCD- and plasma- TV prices have come down a lot, and the ones we have on offer are mostly priced below $3,000."

Sales of these products have grown more than 60 per cent this year, said Ms Ng.

She added that customers are going for full high-definition (HD) TVs - which offer four times better picture quality than standard definition - especially now that more HD content is available.

Mr Andrew Koh, director and general manager of the consumer imaging and information division at Canon Singapore, said this has created a demand for HD video capture or input, and resulted inmore people buying HD camcorders.

At the same time, consumers are snapping up portable hard disks to store their HD photos and videos.

Portable hard disks continue to drop in price and offer more storage, said Mr Haresh Khoobchandani, director of the business- marketing organisation in Microsoft Operations in Singapore. Aside from high-end devices, basic-level computers are also in demand.

For example, sales of "netbooks", small and sub-$1,000 PCs from makers like Asus, HP and Acer, are strong, said Mr Khoobchandani.

"People are looking for lighter computing alternatives when they travel, or when they are looking for really basic computers."

marcelp@sph.com.sg

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