In addition to giant tubs of mayonnaise and mega-packs of toilet paper, thousands of Costco shoppers are finding room in their carts for a more high-end product: plasma TV sets.
Sharp price cuts have brought plasma sets and other thin, flat televisions out of high-end electronics boutiques and into thousands of mass-market outlets such as Costco, a wholesale buying club best known for offering members bulk items and big discounts.
The least expensive plasma sets still cost a hefty $3,000 or more, yet sales are growing so rapidly that many manufacturers are racing to boost production.
"Everyone has been surprised by the quantities that have moved," said Tim Farmer, a vice president at Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco Wholesale Corp.
The burgeoning popularity of thin-screen TVs has prompted more manufacturers, including some based in California, to jump into the fray. In all, more than two dozen companies now market some version of the product.
That increase, combined with expanding production capacity and improved technology, could push the price of plasma sets down by one-third next year, according to analyst Richard Doherty of Envisioneering Group, a technology research firm in Seaford, N.Y.
"There is strong consumer demand but not enough to stop the free fall," Doherty said.
Manufacturers already are selling the core component of a plasma set -- the glass panel -- at or near a loss in their hunger for a share of the growing market, some industry analysts and executives say. But they're not just competing with one another; they're also trying to fend off challenges from competing thin-screen technologies, such as liquid crystal displays, or LCDs.
It's too early to write an obituary for bulky picture tubes, which will remain the most affordable TV sets for years to come. Still, analysts and industry executives insist that thin screens have started their transformation from a niche product into the dominant format for TV sets in the digital era.
It may take another decade, but thin will win.
The demand for thin screens is fueled in part by the advent of DVDs and digital TV broadcasts, which offer more detailed pictures and more lifelike colors than conventional analog TV signals. To see the difference, consumers need a set that can pack more information onto the screen than their current TVs can.
