Australian PC sales collapse by 21% in horror quarter

There’s more bad news for PC vendors, with sales slumping 21% year-on-year in Australia during the first quarter of 2013, according to new figures from IDC.

The situation was similar across the Tasman, with PC makers in New Zealand experiencing a 27% slump.

“The softness in PC sales across the consumer and commercial space reflects a declining demand for PCs,” says IDC Australia market analyst Amy Cheah.

“More consumers are skipping or delaying PC purchases as tablets become [a] more common alternative for mobile access. Vendors, as a result, took a more cautious approach this quarter, cutting back on shipments given the slow moving inventory situation.”

Forthcoming processor refreshes from major chipmakers Intel and AMD is further contributing to weak demand from retailers.

“Channels are increasingly conservative, limiting product offering as a way to minimise their exposure to the PC market. With the upcoming Intel and AMD processors refresh in June, there will be extra caution to avoid building up on inventory of previous generation PCs,” Cheah says.

In April, SmartCompany reported that PC shipments declined 13.9% during the quarter, with the new figures showing the fall was greater in Australia than in other countries.

In Australia, the top five PC vendors by marketshare are currently HP (19%), Apple (18%), Dell (15%), Lenovo (11%), and Toshiba (9%), with other small vendors making up 28% of the local market.

In New Zealand, HP (34%) and Apple (15%) dominate the local market, followed by Acer, Dell and Toshiba (8% each), while small vendors make up 27% of the market.

For some of the desktop computer giants, particularly HP and Dell, losses in the PC market have been compounded by a weak quarter in the server market.

As SmartCompany recently reported, worldwide revenues from server shipments dropped by 7.7% year-on-year to $US10.9 billion during the first quarter of 2013, marking the fifth decline in the past six quarters.

The revenue drop was partly due to a 39% drop in shipments to 1.9 million for the quarter.

HP currently leads the server market with a marketshare of 26.9% globally, with Dell claiming 18.5% of the market.