Samsung Narrows Gap with Vizio in U.S. LCD TV Sales

New sales figures for the second quarter of 2009 show Vizio is still the seller maker of LCD TVs in the U.S., but Samsung is closing the gap.

New sales figures from industry analysis firm iSuppli show that while Vizio maintained its number-one position in U.S. LCD TV sales during the second quarter of 2009, South Korea’s Samsung managed to close the distance, increasing its share of the market from 17.8 percent in the first quarter to 21.3 percent in the second quarter. Vizio also managed to increase its market share, but not as fast, expanding from a 21.4 percent share in the first quarter to 21.7 percent in the second quarter. Samsung and Vizio are now only separated by fourth tenths of a percentage point.

Overall the U.S. market for LCD televisions improved during the second quarter of 2009, with overall shipments increasing by 8.9 percent to 6.9 million units, up from 6.3 million units in the first quarter of the year.

“Samsung in the second quarter was very aggressive in introducing and marketing its LED-backlit LCD-TVs, allowing it to boost sales of these sets,” iSuppli’ principal analyst for television systems Riddhi Patel, in a statement. “U.S. consumers increasingly are warming up to higher-specification LCD-TV models, including those using new LED-backlighting technology.”

According to iSupply, 2.2 percent of the LCD TVs shipped it the U.S. during the second quarter had LED backlights, whereas a year ago essentially no LCD TVs in the U.S. sported LED backlighting.

However, Vizio continues to leverage its position as a low-cost leader through partnerships with high-volume retail partners like Wal-mart and Costco, and offers a combination of inexpensive and full-featured sets that appeal to a wide range of consumers.