PC sales slump in Q3 as consumers limit tech spending

MUMBAI: Cautious spending by retail consumers in an uncertain economic environment impacted PC sales in the September 2012 quarter, shows the latest report from Gartner.

The share of consumer purchases in total PC sale during the quarter fell sharply to 47% from 55% a year ago despite festive season, which has historically boosted retail spending.

This reflects a restrained spending by consumers reluctant to splurge at a time when growth in salaries and wages is expected to stay lukewarm.

With consumers tightening purse strings, PC sales have started to dwindle. The findings from the global research firm reveals that the PC sales in India including mobile PCs fell by 5.9% to 2.9 million unites during the September 2012 quarter compared with the year ago number.

The desktop market or boxed PCs suffered a greater decline of 35%. This was offset to a certain extent by a strong 23% growth in mobile PCs.

The data shows that global PC giants Dell and HP are gradually losing ground to aggressive selling strategies of Lenovo and Acer. In the September quarter, Dell's market share fell by 260 basis points (bps) to 12.4%. The market share of HP shrank by 220 bps to 15.5%.

Driven by the big order from the Chennai government, Lenovo expanded its share in total PC sales during the September 2012 quarter by 4.9% to 17% from the year ago. Acer grew its share by a similar magnitude to 15.7%.

Local vendor HCL Infosystems reported a sharp 43% decline in PC shipment for the September 2012 quarter, according to Gartner.