RSSAsian PC Sales Contradict Doom & Gloom
By Paul Baiocchi | August 12, 2008 | 1:27 PM | 0 Comments
While some would like you to believe that the world's economy is set to hit a brick wall, first-half data from GfK Retail and Technology paints a different picture. Even with countries like Singapore, one of Asia's better performing economies in recent years, ratcheting down growth expectations, the economic performance of certain retail segments underscores the retail opportunities present in this region of the world. The report, released on August 7th, showed an average 19% increase in sales volumes over the first half of 2008 for the nine countries surveyed.
Along these lines and even against a an increasingly gloomy backdrop, the sales volume growth for personal computers (both desktop and notebooks) monitors, printers and multifunctional devices was almost as impressive as the 8.7 million total units sold for the first half of 2008. While some have pronounced the PC market all but dead, the data in this ever-important region of consumption belie this claim. In this six month period alone, the value of this region's retail sales in the IT sector were USD $3 billion.
Dig a little deeper and it is clear growth is coming from the emerging "frontier" economies of the region, but the more mature markets are still holding their own, as well. While Vietnam had the greatest increase in retail sales volume and value in the space (38% and 31% respectively), markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore, both considered established markets, performed well. Singapore's volume growth of 22% over 2007's same six month period came as quite a surprise to many market analysts, especially considering the country's shrinking growth estimates for the current year.
China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Australia represent a very important sample of countries which encompass both the emerging and developed consumer markets of Asia. What GFK's recent report lacks in categorical breath, it more than makes up for in significance. If a market like that for PC's can show such promising performance in what is supposed to be a rugged economic environment, imagine what more conservative consumer staple segments can do moving forward.
Writing from Singapore for Delta Global Advisors
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