Analysis of Global LED Display Sales in Q3 2020

As predicted, the COVID-19 still affects many countries and regions. Except for the continuous growth of the Chinese market in the third quarter, shipments in other regions have declined to varying degrees. According to Omdia's "LED Display Market Service", thanks to the rapid recovery of the Chinese market, although the global led display market shipment still has a year-on-year decline of 23.3%, it eventually achieved a month-on-month increase of 21.3%.

Through timely adjustment of product and market strategies, Chinese brands such as Absen and Unilumin are very active. By actively expanding sales channels and developing new vertical markets and application scenarios, their market share in China has grown rapidly in the third quarter. In the domestic market, Unilumin shipments increased by 27.8% month-on-month and 107.7% year-on-year. Absen’s shipments increased 79.8% month-on-month and 168.5% year-on-year. In the third quarter of 2020, overall shipments in the Chinese market increased by 51.4% month-on-month and 29.0% year-on-year.

As expected, with the cancellation of the lockdown, demand in most European markets will gradually recover by the end of the second quarter. The second epidemic forced more and more countries and regions to announce the closure of cities again in October and November. However, relative to the impact of the first ban, the impact of this ban on the entire market is much milder. Because we have observed that the current installation of the led display project is still proceeding as planned. In addition, with the increase in demand for corporate indoor, TV stations and control rooms, especially in Western Europe, the shipment of small pixel pitch led display products is still booming.

In the North American market, shipments still declined to a large extent during the quarter, with a ring ratio of -17.6% and a year-on-year rate of -42.0%. Among many brands, few can maintain continuous shipments and grow by, such as Unilumin, which increased by 28.0% month-on-month. Although Daktronics has reduced shipments this quarter, it still maintains its leading position. However, due to the decline in shipments of Samsung and Daktronics in the 10-14.99mm pixel pitch category, the shipments of this specification product fell by 44.5%. At the same time, thanks to Samsung, shipments of 2-4.99mm dot pitch specifications have gradually recovered in this quarter. In other areas, the demand for public space, education, and corporate collaboration has recovered, but it is still limited by human resources such as installation and commissioning. The market turmoil brought about by the epidemic and the unstable global economic environment eventually led to a 10.1% decrease in shipments in regions other than China.

Although the actual shipment situation in the third quarter of 2020 was not as good as previously expected, Omdia pointed out that shipments of small pixel pitch led screen products continued to grow at the quarterly level, accounting for 14.8% of the total shipments this quarter. Among them, the Chinese market has strong demand in government departments at all levels of command rooms, office collaboration, 8K ultra-high-definition video signal broadcasting, and medical services. Liu Huilian, chief analyst at Omdia, believes that this trend will be further developed after the full recovery of markets in Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Brand competition for small pixel pitch led display products is still fierce

Leyard's small pixel pitch led display product revenue market share accounted for 27.2%, continuing to maintain its leading position. Followed by Absen and Unilumin, accounting for 20.9% and 10.3% respectively.

Unilumin ranks second in overall revenue in market share, mainly because of its outstanding performance in the Chinese market and stable shipments from Western Europe, Eastern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region with higher average prices. Among them, the revenue of 2-4.99mm products increased by 15.8% year-on-year, enabling Unilumin to maintain a relatively stable revenue.

Although compared with Leyard and Unilumin, there are fewer shipments of dot pitch <=0.99mm products, but Absen's overall revenue still remains in the top three. Compared with the same period last year, Absen's shipments in overseas markets still have a large gap, but this quarter has begun to recover, and achieved a chain growth of 17.1%.

The sluggish global market demand has prompted Chinese brands to focus on the domestic market, resulting in more intense price competition in the Chinese market. First-tier brands such as Leyard and Unilumin, which were originally positioned as high-end, are striving to expand sales channels in second- and third-tier cities, lower retail prices, and try to make up for the lack of overseas markets with the domestic market.

This makes it difficult for China's second-tier brands and small and medium-sized manufacturers to choose to change their business direction or close their led display and related businesses. According to Omdia's latest "LED Video Display Market Tracking Report for the Third Quarter of 2020", the market share of first-tier brands is increasing, and security companies and traditional LCD brands with strong financial support, including Hikvision, Dahua, Changhong, Skyworth and Hisense are also developing rapidly in the LED industry. Omdia predicts that assuming indoor and outdoor events (such as exhibitions) and sports competitions and other gathering activities are further postponed, leading to continued weakness in demand for larger dot pitch displays and rental markets, the market share of Chinese second-tier brands will be in the next few years. Further decline in the quarter.