U.S. consumer software sales reach $5.0 bln in '96
PORT WASHINGTON, N.Y., April 25 (Reuter) - Total sales of
software to U.S. consumers at retail reached about $5.0 billion
dollars in 1996, a 5.1 increase over 1995, according to the
market research firm NPD Group Inc.
Over half the industry revenues were generated by the top
10 publishers, the report said, with Microsoft Corp
leading with an 18.4 percent share of total dollar sales.
CUC International Inc ranked second with 7.2 percent
and Intuit Inc was third with 4.3 percent of the
software market.
The report is based on the firm's 1995 and 1996 retail
sales data and consumer studies. NPD Group is a privately held
international market research firm.
The report said the three largest market segments,
entertainment, productivity and educational software, grew in
both units and dollars over the prior year.
Entertainment software saw a 20.1 percent increase in
dollar sales and a 30 percent increase in unit sales, with
total sales reaching $1.1 billion in 1996. Education posted
sales increases of 17 percent in dollars and 26 percent in
units, reaching $563 million for the year.
The study said productivity software accounted for the
largest segment of the market, generating about $2.3 billion
dollars in sales at the retail level. The sales grew 4.8
percent in dollars and 7.8 percent in units.
Productivity software includes financial and tax programs,
graphics, and Internet browsers among others. The Internet
browser software unit ranked first in both dollar and unit
share, with 12.7 percent and 12.5 percent of the market
respectively.
úúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúúú
This means that CUC Software held nearly 22% of the market share in the combined entertainment/education software markets.
That's very good. I figure CUC can capture at least 25% of the market this year.
Tdw |
