CONTEXT
Europe undeterred by stagnant US sales
There are few signs yet of an
impending crisis in IT sales in Europe
as analysis of the latest Context sales
figures through channels reveals.....
by Osian ap Garth
osian.apgarth@iteuropa.com
P
ersonal computer sales figures across show that Swedish dealers have nearly Referring to the EMEA market, Mika
Europe show that vendors are shifting doubled their sales against 2007. Kitagawa, principal analyst for Gartner’s client
more units than a year ago, and despite Also showing a hefty increase in sales is computing markets said that the region:
murmurs of a faltering economy across the the UK market. Again, the biggest growth has “Showed stronger than expected results,
Atlantic, neither corporate nor home users been through dealers, who between them fuelled by solid mobile PC growth across most
seem concerned enough to make cuts in their sold over a third more units than 12 months countries”.
IT budgets. ago. This is perhaps surprising in the UK - the Eszter Morvay, senior research analyst for
Of the largest European economies, country which is arguably most susceptible IDC’s EMEA PC tracker agrees: “Despite its
Sweden leads the spending spree. The usual to the much talked about global economic maturity, the western European PC market
post-Christmas slump of January and February downturn. showed no signs of slowing down.” She went
hasn’t hampered a phenomenal growth rate And although a casual glance at these on to say that the increased sales in both
across the market, compared with the same figures suggests that the Dutch market is consumer and business markets were fuelled
period a year ago. In fact the YTD figures significantly underachieving compared with by the demand for mobile devices.
its European counterparts, Morvay also commented that increased
a closer look reveals that competition may benefit consumers. She said:
Context February’s numbers come on “Competition, particularly with the arrival of
Channel sell-through PC unit growth (%) February 2008 the back of an exceptional Dell in the retail area, became even fiercer and
performance in the previous the market continued to consolidate among
Country Channel M-on-M y-on-y
month; what we are seeing the key international players.”
France Corporate reseller 12% -24%
here is merely a correction Thanks mainly to the European market, HP
Dealer 3% 10%
on January’s bonanza. Holland remains the vendor of choice on the global
Multiple retailer -20% 20%
actually saw more PCs sold in stage, increasing its market share against
Germany Corporate reseller -4% -12%
February than December. rivals Acer and Dell. Of the top five vendors,
Dealer -10% 4%
Spain and Italy show similar Toshiba is the company thought to have made
Multiple retailer -17% 25%
figures in their year-on-year the biggest increase in sales this year, though
growth. Although distributed its overall numbers remain a long way behind
Italy Corporate reseller -4% 31%
differently across the sectors, the leaders.
Dealer 6% 0%
both countries show an In the US the story is different. In a flat
Multiple retailer 30% 17%
overall increase in the order market, the vendors have been fighting over
Netherlands Corporate reseller -17% -16% of 20% - the type of figure their share. In this respect, most of the big
Dealer -19% 28% that is envied by most other players have lost out to Apple, and market
Multiple retailer -41% -1% industries. leader Dell.
These figures confirm But despite the overall positive outlook
Spain Corporate reseller -16% 13%
Dealer
observations made by on the sector, perhaps there is one small
-6% 30%
Multiple retailer
Gartner, which has released its cloud on the horizon: the figures show
1% 7%
preliminary forecast on global that in both January and February of this
Sweden Corporate reseller 11% 36%
PC sales in Q1 2008. Most year, the corporate resellers in France and
Dealer -5% 100%
significantly, it notes that the Germany (two of the three largest markets
Multiple retailer -15% 21%
US market has remained more in Europe) have posted a noticeable drop in
UK Corporate reseller 5% 20%
or less flat, while Europe, sales compared with last year’s figures. Are
Dealer -4% 31%
driven largely by a greater these numbers due merely to fluctuations in
Multiple retailer -35% 8%
demand for more mobility, market conditions? Or could they be the first
seems unfazed by talk of signs that the corporate world is beginning to
economic gloom. adopt a more cautious spending policy?
02 May 2008 15
It0808 - 15_context.indd 12 2008-04-30 11:40
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