European PC Sales Rose By 20% in First Quarter
By SARAH ELLISON
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
LONDON -- Personal-computer sales in Europe rose 20% in the first quarter, boosted by popularity of the Internet and alternative sales outlets, such as supermarkets, said Dataquest Inc., a market research firm.
Sales came to just over seven million units, with most of the year-to-year growth coming from Western Europe's consumer sector, in countries such as France, Germany and the U.K. Sales to that sector jumped 61%.
"There are ever lower prices, which open up PC sales to a whole new market," said Philip Williams, a senior analyst with Dataquest. He said that lower prices, combined with the allure of the Internet, was fueling the PC boom.
Sales to the professional market grew by 13% in Western Europe, as companies replaced their PCs to make sure they were ready for the year 2000, Mr. Williams said.
A Strong Showing
The first quarter's performance exceeded the expectations of many analysts who feared there would be a slowdown after strong gains in previous quarters.
In value terms, sales were down, reflecting the drop in PC prices. Gains posted by leading PC makers came at the expense of smaller players who found themselves squeezed out.
Compaq Computer Corp., despite stumbling in the U.S. market in the latest quarter, maintained its top position in Europe, with a 16% share of the market. The company's board last month ousted Chief Executive Eckhard Pfeiffer and Chief Financial Officer Earl Mason in an effort to bolster Compaq's sagging profit performance.
Mr. Williams of Dataquest said that Compaq's strength in Europe reflects its relationships with other PC makers such as Shaefer IT Logistics GmbH.
Kaspar Rorsted, Compaq's vice president for marketing in Europe, declined to comment on the company's woes in the U.S., and instead pointed to its No.1 sales ranking in Europe as a evidence of continued health.
Dell Moves Up
Dell Computer Corp., another U.S. company, achieved a 43% rise in unit sales, beating out International Business Machines Corp. for the No.2 spot, with an 8.7% market share, up 1.4 percentage points from a year earlier.
Jan Gesman Larsen, Dell's European director, said the company boosted sales by expanding its product range to include storage systems.
Fujitsu Ltd. was one the best performers, increasing unit sales by 47%. The Japanese company was helped by sales promotions through supermarket chains such as Aldi in Germany, which sold 200,000 Fujitsu computers in just a few days. Promotions like these have catapulted Fujitsu to the top rank in Germany in terms of unit sales. In Europe, Fujitsu is now the No.4 PC vendor, behind IBM.
During the quarter, PC sales to the German consumer market more than doubled. "Promotions through Aldi are reaching an almost cult status," said Mr. Williams.
In France, Internet service providers helped boost PC sales to the consumer market by offering potential subsribers PCs at bargain prices.
Growth in the U.K. came largely from sales of low-end PCs, illustrated by the popularity of less-expensive Cyrix chips.
Unit sales in Eastern Europe dropped 20%. The Russian market was particularly weak, with sales falling 37%. |
