Notebook PC Sales Brisk in Japan
April 26, 1999 (TOKYO) -- The fourth week of March appears to be the sales peak of this year's spring campaign for personal computers in Japan.
According to a survey conducted by GfK Japan Ltd., an information service company dealing with POS data of 55 household electrical appliances retail stores, Japan's PC sales in the fifth week of March 1999 (March 29-April 4, 1999) at about 2,000 such retail stores decreased by 8.9 percent from the previous week on a quantity basis and by 8.0 percent in value.
When compared to the same week last year (March 30-April 5, 1998), increases were 62.3 percent in units and 65.3 percent in value.
The average sales price increased by 2,355 yen to 236,130 yen from last week's 233,775 yen. (120.23 yen = US$1)
Although the sales in the fifth week of March resulted in decreases from the previous week in both unit/value terms, it kept down a single-digit dip.
While the sales of desktop type PC dropped by more than 16 percent from the previous week in both unit/value terms, notebook PC sales showed less than a 2 percent decrease in both terms.
The brisk sales of notebook PC helped stay the drop of total PC sales at a moderate level.
The average sales price of desktop type PCs decreased by 1,150 yen from the previous week, while its counterpart of notebook PCs increased by 2,355 yen.
In the spring sales campaign this year, the prices of most models are stable. Before one would expect price reductions, existing inventory may run out.
GfK Japan collects POS data from 55 IT-related retail sales companies centering on high-volume stores specializing in home electric appliances. It covers about 3,200 stores (as of April 1998) throughout Japan.
In cooperation with Gfk Japan, Nikkei Market Access provides weekly reports of PC sales in volume and value.
The sales data has been based on the same 41 companies (with about 2,000 stores) since April 1996.
The number of PCs sold at the 2,000 stores is estimated to comprise about 10 percent of gross domestic shipments, and when limiting the sales to retail sales channel, the share comes to about 25 percent of such shipments.
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