PC distribution drops in Western Europe

by Stuart Wilson, Friday 6 July 2012

Jeremy Davies, CEO and co-founder at Context

The latest data from research house Context shows a 16.9% year-on-year slump in Western European PC sales through the distribution channel in April and May 2012. Notebook units sold through distribution dropped 16.6% with netbooks falling 45.7% year-on-year. The major markets of France and Germany were hit hard with PC unit sales through distribution falling 25% and 22.3% respectively.

Ultrabook sales are increasing gradually, according to Context, with more models on the market and the upcoming release of Windows 8 expected to further drive demand.

“It’s going to take a lot to wake up Europe’s PC market over the rest of the year”, said Jeremy Davies, CEO and co-founder at Context. “Ultrabooks, while popular, remain too pricey to spur PC growth, and the jury’s still out on Windows 8.”

Desktop PC experienced a slight decline at, with sales down 7.2% in April and May 2012 compared to the same period in 2011, while servers and workstations dropped by 12.5% and 17.9% respectively.

“It seems that consumers simply don’t have the finances to continue buying PCs while businesses are still impacted by negative economic news,” Davies added. “The only bright spot is tablets – perhaps the novelty factor and delight the user interface brings can stir buyers out of their depression provided pricing is right.”

In Southern Europe, there were also sharp declines in Italy and Spain where PC unit sales through distribution were down 22.3% and 21.6% respectively year-on-year for April and May 2012.