The telecom sector, which includes smart and mobile telephones, headsets and wearables, declined 4.5%,to EUR301 million, while electronics, which account for 15% of the total market, declined nearly 1%, to EUR106 million.
Mobile phone sales dropped by more than 74% on the year in the first quarter, to EUR53 million. Growth of phablets, although over 146%, to EUR231 million, did not compensate the declining trend. Headphone sales grew 17%, to EUR8 million, while sales of core wearables grew over 52%, to EUR8 million, the data showed.
Sales of large home appliances, which account for 18% of the market, grew 11% in the first quarter, to EUR128 million. Small appliances, which account for 7% of the market, grew nearly 4%, to EUR52 million.
The IT sector totaled sales of EUR101 million in the first quarter, nearly 10% less than in the same period in 2018. Nearly all categories registered sales declines, with the exception of computer monitors, which grew 12.5%, to EUR10 million, and webcams, which grew 3%, to EUR2 million. The sharpest decline, of nearly 26%,was registered by computers, to EUR17 million. Tablet sales declined 16.5%, to EUR10 million, while laptop sales dropped 7%, to EUR55 million.
On the electronics segment, TV sales grew 2%, to EUR92 million, while audio systems and speakers grew nearly 8% and 9%, respectively, to EUR2 million each. The headphones market dropped 15.5%, to EUR0.69 million, while video cameras dropped nearly 33%, to less than EUR1 million.
Office equipment and photo cameras, each accounting for 1% of the market, posted declines of 4.5% (to EUR8 million) and 11% (to EUR4 million), respectively.