<Europe>PC Shipment Report-Revised Findings for Q3,1998
Hi Jim:
We already know some details of the PC shipments in Q3 98 for Europe, but here is a detailed & REVISED analysis of European PC shipments Report.I think it worth a look.
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Courtsey: Context (UK)
CONTEXT PC SHIPMENTS REPORT - Revised Findings for Q3 1998
13th November 1998
Q3 98 WESTERN EUROPEAN PC SHIPMENTS EXCEED EXPECTATIONS AS EUROPEAN IT SPEND INCREASES
Summary
Volume shipments of PCs in the Western European market grew 22.6% in the third quarter of 1998 to 5.42 million units compared to the same period one year ago, exceeding expectations throughout the industry.
Growth was fuelled by rising corporate investment in IT, due to preparations for the year 2000 and the implementation of the Euro, as well as an upturn in some countries' consumer segments.
Performance in Europe's three largest PC markets was good, France leading with a growth rate of 20.7%, followed by Germany at 18.9% and the UK with 18%. Compaq retains the top slot with 18.2% market share, followed by Dell with 8.3%. HP has slipped to fifth place with 6.3% share overtaken by Siemens with 6.5%. Apple's unit shipments grew a very healthy 33% compared with last year giving them 2.6% share for the quarter.
European Overview
Overall, the third quarter was characterised by a much higher-than-expected growth in most countries. While the third quarter is traditionally the weakest quarter of the year, with sales often stagnating during the summer months, most countries saw this quarter's growth rate out-perform their Q2 rate, and some even achieved higher growth than during all of the year's first half. Reasons for such growth were the high demand in the corporate segment, especially the Small and Medium Business segment, an upturn in some countries' consumer markets and increased investment in IT with regard to the year 2000 issue.
Country Summary
The French PC market continued to grow steadily and exceeded the rate achieved in the second quarter. High sales were achieved in the small and medium business as well as medical sector, with September having been an especially strong month. The main reason for good growth, however, was the big increase of consumer interest in Internet and multimedia features due to multiple local education programmes, leading to a jump in demand for home PCs.
Germany, Europe's biggest market, saw a strong increase in growth compared to the first half of this year, mainly due to increased demand in the corporate market. While previous quarters were characterised by a trend towards upgrading rather than buying new PCs, the year 2000 issue and Euro implementation saw companies taking major investments in their IT equipment this quarter, resulting in high PC sales.
The UK market, although still achieving good growth, saw a slight slow down of the growth rates achieved in the first half of the year. This was mainly due to fears of recession and doubts over the future of the economy. However, it is expected that the fourth quarter will show renewed improvement, especially in the consumer segment.
The Netherlands have seen a slight slow down compared to the first six months of the year, but still grew at a healthy 18.7%. The Dutch market continued to profit from a very steady economy and is expected to keep high growth rates next quarter, with signs that the consumer market is continuously improving.
Spain, growing at a rate of 17.3%, improved its previous-quarter achievement. Profiting from a decrease of interest rates leading to an acceleration of the economy, companies were more confident in investing in IT equipment. Accordingly, growth was mainly fuelled by the demand of large accounts in the banking, insurance and educational sectors.
In Italy, as in most other countries, growth exceeded expectations with a rate of 19.7% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. The trend towards major PC brands, identified during previous quarters, continued, especially in the light of steadily decreasing prices for these brands.
As in previous quarters, the European country with the highest growth rate was Sweden, achieving 63.3%. The 'Employee Purchase' government scheme, which enables companies to sell PCs to their employees at very low prices and was implemented around six months ago, was still having a strong effect in Sweden, although it is expected that this will slow down over the next few quarters.
Vendor Summary
The consolidation around top PC manufacturers - increasingly evident during the past quarters - has continued. The top five vendors this quarter were Compaq, Dell, IBM, Siemens and HP which, altogether, grew 42.3% year-over-year and thus greatly out-performed the average market growth. Their consolidated share increased from 40.9% in Q3 97 to 47.5% in Q3 this year. Overall in Q3 1998, the top five vendors shipped 2,577,479 PCs.
The best performers among the top five this quarter were Compaq and Dell, achieving unit growths of 39% and 94.9%, respectively.
As last quarter, Dell achieved overall best growth performance and nearly doubled its PC sales from 230,009 units shipped in Q3 97 to 448,324 PCs shipped in the third quarter this year. Dell thus kept the number two position in the Western European PC market, gained in Q2 98. Countries with especially high growth rates for Dell were the Netherlands, where it achieved 256.5% growth (45,203 units shipped), and the Nordic countries, where the vendor shipped 44,362 units in Sweden (289% growth) and 3,256 units in Finland (225% growth). Italy, a market where Dell has been relatively small so far, has also seen strong growth at 155% (5,105 units shipped). In the three largest markets, Dell also performed well, growing at 140.8% in France (62,851 units shipped), 57.6% in the UK (148,103 units shipped) and 48.5% in Germany (56,758 units shipped).
Compaq continued to strengthen its leadership position in the Western European PC market. With shipments of 986,738 units in Q3 98 compared to 709,903 units in the same quarter last year, it achieved a 39% growth rate and shipped more than twice as much as its closest competitor Dell. An increase in growth rates compared to Q2 98 was registered mainly in the biggest markets, with the UK achieving 44% (246,332 units shipped), France reaching 45% (144,752 units shipped) and Germany achieving 41% (126,674 units shipped). Compaq also performed well in the Scandinavian countries, shipping 55,619 units in Sweden (63.5% growth) and 39,762 PCs in Denmark (98% growth).
A high number of other vendors among the top ten also experienced very good growth rates which out-performed their second-quarter achievements.
IBM registered a 31.6% growth with 443,530 units shipped, versus 336,970 PCs in the same period last year, a growth rate mainly attributed to high PC desktop sales. Ranking third overall, IBM secured an 8.2% market share and came close in unit shipments to Dell, ranking second with a number of 448,324 units shipped.
Siemens, traditionally strong in the third quarter, also reached a very healthy growth rate with 36.7% and a unit shipment of 355,382. Growth was especially strong in the UK with 97% (25,004 units), Italy with 90% (28,971 units) and Spain with 141% (5,195 units).
HP had a good quarter with 343,505 units shipped (25.5% growth), but was for the first time this year overtaken by Siemens, who secured fourth place with a market share of 6.5% versus 6.3% for Hewlett-Packard, ranking fifth.
Another vendor with a high growth rate this quarter was Packard-Bell - NEC, achieving a rate of 41.8% with 270,743 units shipped. The vendor had launched some aggressive advertising campaigns in countries like the Netherlands and Sweden, and profited from improving consumer markets.
While ranking eighth behind Toshiba in Q2, Packard-Bell - NEC secured sixth place this quarter, before Fujitsu, which grew at 32.3% (261,781 units shipped) and Toshiba, which grew at a disappointing 12.6% (205,268 units shipped) but saw an increase in sales of their professional desktop line.
With the launch of the iMac and its strong financial results, all eyes are on Apple to see how sustainable its recovery will be. Even though iMac sales came late in the quarter, the company experienced an excellent growth rate of 33% compared with the same period last year, shipping 141,087 units in the quarter. Q4 should see even better performance with iMac sales fully ramped up.
Table 1: Vendor ranking - Volume Growth 3Q 98 PC units shipped vs. 3Q 97
Year over year % growth
Dell 94.9
Packard Bell - NEC 41.8
Compaq - Digital 39.0
Siemens 36.7
Apple 33.7
Fujitsu 32.3
Source: CONTEXT
Table 2: Vendor ranking - Volumes 3Q 98
Third Quarter 1998 Third Quarter 1997
units share% delta% grth% units share%
Top 5 vendors 2,577,479 47.5 6.60 42.3 1,810,680 40.9
Compaq - Digital 986,738 18.2 2.15 39.0 709,903 16.0
Dell 448,324 8.3 3.07 94.9 230,009 5.2
IBM 443,530 8.2 0.56 31.6 336,970 7.6
Siemens 355,382 6.5 0.68 36.7 260,015 5.9
Hewlett-Packard 343,505 6.3 0.15 25.5 273,783 6.2
Packard Bell - NEC (1) 270,743 5.0 0.68 41.8 190,887 4.3
Fujitsu (2) 261,781 4.8 0.36 32.3 197,798 4.5
Toshiba 205,268 3.8 -0.33 12.6 182,284 4.1
Acer (3) 159,620 2.9 -0.02 21.7 131,179 3.0
Apple 141,087 2.6 0.22 33.7 105,495 2.4
(1) Packard Bell -NEC: consolidated data Packard Bell - NEC - ZDS and Brett Computers
(2) Fujitsu: consolidated data Fujitsu - ICL – Aquarius
(3) Acer: consolidated data Acer - Texas Instruments
Source: CONTEXT
Table 3: PC market size, units by country, 3Q 98
units growth%
Germany 1,285,983 18.9
UK 1,112,384 18.0
France 927,000 20.7
Netherlands 326,560 18.7
Italy 310,000 19.7
Sweden 303,683 63.3
Switzerland 191,893 26.9
Spain 210,000 17.3
Belg - Lux 139,953 24.4
Denmark 145,472 31.3
Norway 138,847 28.6
Austria 108,114 33.2
Finland 83,853 20.5
Ireland 57,033 41.7
Portugal 49,000 34.2
Greece 37,974 42.0
Western Europe Total 5,427,749 22.6
Source: CONTEXT |
