W. European PC sales are up by 17.5% Y-o-Y in Q1 2020, Context reports, as a March 2020 surge in demand for remote-working hardware further pushed PC growth. Said surge comes through, of course, the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the analyst, PC sales are up by 7.6% Y-o-Y in January, 13.2% Y-o-Y in February and 31.8% Y-o-Y in March. Such numbers show when stricter measures to contain the spread of the virus across Europe lead to a "dramatic" increase in remote working. The full quarter sees a greater increase in business-targeted products, as sales for the segment are up by 22.8% Y-o-Y, compared to the 9.5% Y-o-Y growth of consumer-targeted PCs.
Notebooks are the device most in demand, with sales growing by 18.4% Y-o-Y. Commercial notebook sales are up by 23.6% Y-o-Y, while the consumer systems see a 12.3% Y-o-Y increase. Desktop sales are up by 15.3% Y-o-Y overall, with 22.7% sales growth in business-targeted devices more than compensating for a -2.7% Y-o-Y decline in consumer sales.
As one might expect, the unexpected surge in demand for home working devices has lead to "significant" notebook inventory reduction across most W. European countries. Incoming supply remains disrupted by manufacturing and logistics issues, leading distributors to use existing-- and often ageing-- stock to fulfill orders. They are also reporting a growing order backlog. As a result, while the March spike in demand will near certainly soften, April sell-through should be healthy as the channel works to reduce the backlog.
The effect of the current PC demand crisis throughout the rest of the year depends on the duration of lockdown measures, not to mention the effect on European economies. In the long term, the crisis will likely accelerate digitalisation efforts across a number of sectors, since many organisations now consider secure remote working infrastructure as an economic necessity, and a mere "nice-to-have."
Go PC sales in Western Europe up +17.5% in Q1-20 as Covid-19 boosts demand in March
