PC sales from Western Europe’s largest distributors to consumer resellers have almost maintained the momentum they gathered earlier in the year – growing by 39% year-on-year in early Q3 after a 42% rise in Q2.
According to the latest data published by Context, volume sales of notebooks to retailers and consumer etailers were up by 41% in the first two months of Q3 (compared to a 50% growth in Q2) as resellers stocked up for this year’s back-to-school season.
“Notebook demand soared in Q2 as a result of lockdown measures implemented across Europe and, with Covid infection rates rising again and the threat of new lockdowns in many countries, consumers are expected to invest in new IT in Q3 to make sure there are enough devices per family for e-learning and gaming,” says Marie-Christine Pygott, senior analyst at Context.
Consumer desktop sales, which dropped by 4% in Q2, reversed in early Q3 and the number sold grew by 25% – albeit from a significantly smaller base than notebooks. Growth was particularly strong for mini PCs and all-in-one desktops, which were up by 67% and 32%, respectively.
All of the top five countries reported increased PC sales to retailers and consumer etailers in early Q3, although for most of them this came on the back of a weak performance last year. The market in Italy grew the most with PC sales up by 79% on the same period a year ago. It was followed by Spain (65%), Germany (52%), the UK (27%) and France (10%).
The picture was different for commercial PCs. There was a significant slowdown in early Q3 after a healthy Q2: while PC sales from Western Europe’s largest distributors to corporate resellers, small and medium resellers, and business etailers grew by 21% year-on-year in Q2, they saw a mere 2% rise in the first two months of Q3.
The reduced growth was driven by a slowdown in the rise of notebook sales (from 56% in Q2 to 26% in early Q3) and ongoing weakness in those of desktops.