Dubai: Sales of personal computers in the UAE and the rest of the Middle East and Africa (MEA) are slowing down due to weak consumer spending, according to analysts.
Low oil prices, currency fluctuations and slowdown in international trade and tourism, compounded by the ongoing political and social unrest in some parts of the region, are also causing the PC market to suffer a decline.
During the first quarter of 2015, around 4.3 million PCs were shipped to the region, reflecting a 9.6 per cent drop from a year earlier, while stocks from the previous months piled up, according to the latest market insights announced on Sunday by International Data Corporation (IDC).
For the whole 2015, the IDC expects that around 17.3 million units will be sold, which is still a 4.8 per cent decline from the previous year. The market is forecast to remain “almost flat” between 2015 and 2019, while a shift in consumer preference is expected, as a growing number of consumers move away from PCs to tablets and smartphones.
“Currency fluctuations were one of the main causes of the market’s decline slowdown, with key markets such as Nigeria, Turkey, Egypt and Algeria all being hit,” said Fouad Charakla, research manager for personal computing, systems and infrastructure solutions at IDC.
“Low oil prices have also had a negative impact on almost all parts of the region, with the extent varying from country to country. Inventory pile-ups from the previous quarter also caused the Turkey market to decline faster year on year, while ongoing political and social unrest in the rest of Middle East sub-region compounded the decline for MEA as a whole.”
Charakla noted that there is a “high PC inventory levels held by the region’s channels”, primarily in Turkey. “While this inhibitor was primarily only felt in Turkey during [the first quarter of the year], the impact is now expected to extend to many other parts of the region, including the UAE and the rest of Middle East sub-region,” said Charakla.
“Additionally, the devaluation of some major international currencies, such as the euro and ruble, will continue to negatively impact PC demand in MEA through reduced international trade and tourism from the affected regions.”
However, Mahesh Chotrani, assistant vice president at Jacky's Electronics in Dubai, said that their PC sales have not dropped, although the growth in the number of items sold has been marginal. He noted that during the Gitex Shopper event in April, PC sales even increased by 30 per cent.
"We haven't noticed any decline in sales of PCs. However, the growth is marginal and approximately 7 per cent overall," Chotrani said.
Despite the overall decline, IDC said that popular brands like HP, Lenovo and Dell continued to gain more market share in the region. HP leads the table with a 6.5 per cent year-on-year growth, followed by Lenovo in the second place (5.3 per cent). Securing the third spot is Dell, whose shipments increased 3.5 per cent.
