Sales of household electrical appliances at major retailers fell 3.29 percent in June from a year earlier to 162.06 billion yen, the Nippon Electric Big-Store Association said Monday in a preliminary report.
The association said the drop, which came after sales edged up in May for the first increase in three months, stemmed from June having four Sundays this year, as opposed to five last year.
Sales of air conditioners were brisk, as were those of televisions and DVD players due to sales campaigns related to the upcoming Olympics in August. But this failed to make up for a double-digit plunge in sales of personal computers, the association said.
Air conditioner sales grew 20.70 percent to 21.30 billion yen and DVD player sales rose 49.07 percent to 5.40 billion yen. Sales of television sets increased 27.54 percent to 15.76 billion yen, it said.
In contrast, PC sales dropped 22.45 percent to 16.77 billion yen.