'Twas The Season For Buying A PC
( 1/05/98; 6:13 p.m. EST)
By Aaron Ricadela, Computer Retail Week
Consumers closed 1997 with a flurry of holiday PC
purchases, lifting sales which had sagged through
Thanksgiving weekend and only modestly improved
during the first half of December.
Home computer purchasing shot up to its highest level
since late September during the week ended Dec. 19,
and almost equalled that intensity the following week,
according to the most recent weekly surveys of PC
demand conducted on behalf of the Consumer
Electronics Manufacturers Association and Computer
Retail Week. PC purchasing for the week ended Dec.
19 soared, with 0.98 percent of 2,443 households
reporting they'd bought a computer in the past 30
days; during the prior week, the purchasing level was
0.61 percent. And for the week ended Dec. 26,
purchasing remained at a lofty 0.93 percent of 2,466
households. The telephone surveys were conducted
by The Verity Group, Fullerton, Calif.
In a sample of 19,565 households, the purchasing
level was 0.62 percent during the eight weeks ended
Dec. 26. Average purchasing for the 45 weeks of the
survey, which began the week ended Feb. 14, has
been 0.76 percent.
The number of first-time buyers continued to increase
steadily in December, accounting for 41.67 percent of
home computer purchases during the week ended
Dec. 19 and for 43.48 percent the following week.
For the eight weeks ended Dec. 26, first-time buyers
accounted for 48.67 percent of purchasing, compared
with a 45-week average of 36.69 percent. Among
repeat buyers, 23.31 percent of households surveyed
during the eight weeks ended Dec. 26 reported buying
a replacement computer, compared with a 45-week
average of 29.78 percent. Households describing an
additional PC purchase accounted for 22.47 percent
of demand during the final eight weeks of the year,
compared with a 45-week average of 28.48 percent.
One retail executive, speaking on the condition of
anonymity, said PC sales recovered across the board
during the last two weeks in December and that strong
demand has continued into the new year. This
followed a sluggish November, especially for high-end
systems, he said. "We've conditioned our consumers
so much that they can afford to wait for deals," said
the executive.
Price-slashing to clear inventory in anticipation of
vendors' new models fueled strong sales at the close
of the year and during the first days of January, he
said.
According to the survey, the number of households
planning to purchase home computers dipped for the
week ended Dec. 19, with 1.39 percent of households
reporting they were likely to buy a PC in the next six
months. Plans to buy rebounded the following week,
to 1.58 percent, lifting the eight-week moving average
to 1.49 percent. The 45-week average was 1.74
percent. The number of households planning to
purchase systems decreased throughout the fall.
Household PC penetration held at 42 percent during
the final two weeks of 1997, and the eight-week
moving average for the period ended Dec. 26 was
42.5 percent. For the 31 weeks CEMA and CRW
have tracked the statistic, penetration has been 41.26
percent.
In the consumer electronics sector, color TV and
camcorder purchasing rose during the two-week
period before Christmas, while VCR purchasing
cooled off slightly.
Households reporting a color TV purchase in the past
30 days increased to 1.64 percent for the week ended
Dec. 19, but fell slightly to 1.54 percent the following
week. Average purchasing for the eight weeks ending
Dec. 26 was 1.25 percent, compared with 1.19
percent over the 45 weeks of the survey. Households
that said they were very likely to buy a color TV in the
next six months averaged 1.73 percent during the eight
weeks ended Dec. 26, compared with 1.74 percent
over 45 weeks.
Camcorder purchasing held at 0.33 percent for the
week ended Dec. 19 and increased to 0.41 percent
the following week. The eight-week average
purchasing level of 0.25 percent exceeded the
45-week average of 0.19 percent. Plans to buy over
the final eight weeks of the survey were virtually
unchanged from the 45-week average, at 0.75
percent.
VCR purchasing slowed down, however, to 0.94
percent and 0.93 percent, respectively, during the last
two weeks of 1997. But purchasing over the last eight
weeks of the year stood at 2.35 percent, compared
with a 45-week average purchasing level of 0.96
percent. Plans to buy fell during the two weeks ended
Dec. 26, though the eight-week average exceeded the
45-week level. |
