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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Duker who wrote (29381)	4/5/1999 5:16:00 PM
From: Proud_Infidel	Respond to of 70976

Japan's PC Sales Expand in Second Week of March April 5, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Sales of personal computers in Japan increased in the second week of March compared to the previous week, although at a slower pace. Just ahead of the spring vacation for schools, the peak of Japan's PC spring marketing campaign, sales reached a record high so far this year. According to GfK Japan Ltd., an information service company, PC sales in the second week of March 1999 (March 8-14) at about 2,000 volume retailers rose 0.6 percent in units and 1.6 percent in value from the previous week. The sales increased 61.8 percent in terms of units and rose 61.7 percent on a value basis from the same period in the previous year (March 9-15, 1998). GfK Japan Ltd. specializes in collecting and analyzing point-of-sales data from 55 large retail companies that sell electric appliances. The average retail price rose 2,365 yen from 230,738 yen in the previous week to 233,103 yen (119.37 yen = US$1). In 1998, the week-to-week growth rate slowed in the second week of March. Last year, the spring PC sales campaign peaked in the fourth week of March. As for the average retail price, the price increase for notebook PCs has been noticeable. For six straight weeks from the first week of February, the average weekly retail prices for notebook PCs exceeded those recorded in the previous year. This was mainly because buyers are interested in new spring models equipped with the latest microprocessors and large liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. GfK Japan collects POS data from 55 IT-related retail companies that sell home electric appliances. It covers about 3,200 stores (as of April 1998) throughout Japan. Nikkei Market Access provides weekly reports of PC sales (in volume and value) in cooperation with GfK Japan. 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 channels, the share comprises about 25 percent of such shipments. nikkeibp.asiabiztech.com