PCs may lose out to tablets, smartphones
HCM CITY (VNS)— Viet Nam’s PC market grew by 20.5 per cent sequentially and 3.4 per cent year-on-year to reach 638,000 units in the fourth quarter of 2012, according to the latest International Data Corporation (IDC) Asia – Pacific Quarterly PC Tracker report.
In the fourth quarter, the consumer segment was flooded with stocks as some vendors tried to meet their year-end targets and avoid the Lunar New Year period.
As the consumer PC market continues to face pressure from tablets and smartphones in 2013, there is an urgent need for new PC models which are able to drive higher volume in the market, the report says.
“In 2013, the price of Ultra Slim models will need to decrease further in order to compete with attractively priced tablets and smartphones,” said Phan Yen, market analyst for client devices at IDC Viet Nam.
Despite seasonal purchasing from the education segment and unexpected public sector project fulfillments, the overall fourth quarter commercial segment remained weak. This was due to persistent uncertainty in the local economy.
Daniel Pang, ASEAN research manager for client devices at IDC Asia/Pacific, said: “Viet Nam’s ongoing credit crunch has left most small- and medium-sized businesses and even large enterprises with financial difficulties which could impact IT spending in 2013.”
ASUS retained its lead in the market with 17.8 per cent market share, reinforced by strong channel support and aggressive end-user promotions, while Dell retained second position with 15 per cent as it pushed more shipments into both consumer and commercial channels through good channel management.
Acer took third position with 10.2 per cent, while HP fell one position to fourth in line with 9.1 per cent.
Although HP maintained its good performance in the commercial space, it continued to suffer from other aggressive price competition in the consumer space.
Lenovo remained in fifth position, with 6.2 per cent of market share, after bringing in more low-cost consumer notebooks to meet current market demands.
Meanwhile, the printer and multifunction peripherals market continued to grow at the same time, gaining 32.2 per cent growth compared with the previous quarter.
The growth mainly came from the strength of laser technology shipments, which increased by 45 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ)
Total laser technology shipments accounted for 77 per cent of the total market in Viet Nam, while inkjet products reached 23 per cent and grew only by 2 per cent compared to the quarter before.
Driving factors in this quarter included the increased purchasing power from various government administrative units, the banking sector and the procurement of equipment of various industries during the year-end.
The laser printer market in the fourth quarter was generally very positive. Shipments of MFPs increased by 54 per cent quarterly, while the printer shipments grew by 43 per cent QoQ.
Dramatic price reduction was the main reason that led to the strong growth of MFPs.
Some models achieved a breakthrough price of about US$150/unit, creating greater competition pressure on printer models, which have been dominant in the market.
Most vendors have been running promotions in order to attract potential users and also have strong supports towards channels.
Meanwhile, printers continued to be chosen by the government sector due to its easy-to-use and easy-to-be-replaced ability.
In addition, some peripheral vendors who have not previously been involved in the printer market are now getting involved with a series of new printer models. This has pushed the market to compete much more.
“Inkjet usage is still largely sold to the home users, while the number of printers going to businesses is still limited due to various factors such as users’ familiarity with laser technology and the psychology of requiring the cheapest usage cost possibly and any-type-of-quality prints is acceptable in normal usage,” said Dang Tu, market analyst for Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions, IDC Viet Nam. — VNS