Consumer sales and laptops fuel UK market growth

Demand from consumers drove growth in the UK PC market in the first three months of 2005.

The UK market grew by 14.8 per cent in the first quarter. Laptop sales grew by 29.8 per cent, driven by ongoing price cuts. Desktop sales grew by 8.3 per cent and x86 servers grew by just 5.1 per cent year on year.

Ian Gibbs, senior research analyst at IDC, said strong post-Christmas sales and special offers before Easter made up for a slight slowdown in retail sales in February and early March.

“Consumers are more inclined to buy direct - Dell consumer notebooks grew by 100 per cent in the quarter," HE told The Reg. He sees corporate sales continuing to grow more slowly and forecasts consumer sales will fall slightly before picking up towards the end of the year.

Consumer desktop sales grew by 17.3 per cent helped by falling prices, bundled offers and competition between direct and retail sales. Media Center sales were small with many punters choosing an entertainment-type PC coupled with a TV card instead.

Consumer notebook sales grew by 72.5 per cent year-on-year. This growth was pushed by price pressure, better entertainment functions and 15.4 inch screens.

By contrast commercial desktop sales grew by just 2.7 per cent year-on-year.

There were a certain number of chipset shortages, according to IDC, but major manufacturers coped.

Dell stayed top of the UK market and grew 22.5 per cent. Acer saw growth of 43.4 per cent thanks to improved notebook sales and its relationship with retailers Comet and Staples. ®

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