Thailand: Corporate IT Sector Makes Up 27% of Laptop, Desktop Market

Bangkok, 3 September 2012 – A total of over 628,000 laptops and 392,000 desktop computers were sold to consumers and businesses across Thailand in the first six months of 2012, taking the combined market worth to approximately US$ 612.8 million. GfK’s recent findings showed that the B2B market in Thailand account for 23% in volume sales and contribute nearly 28% to the overall worth of these two IT products.

According to data from the leading global market research company on the country’s corporate PC sector, desktop computers and laptops are the two key products contributing the greatest dollar share in B2B IT sales. In the first six months of this year, some 157,000 desktops and 78,000 laptops worth more than USD170.2 million were purchased by businesses.

“Sales performance has been robust in the beginning of the year due to a major IT hardware upgrading in the financial sector during the first half of the year,” observed Dr. Wichit Purepong, General Manager of GfK Thailand. “Last year’s flooding incident also escalated demand for replacement PC devices by a large number of companies which were affected by the disaster.”

GfK Thailand have been conducting retail audit of technical consumer goods, over two decades. In 2012, the company also commenced tracking of B2B sales in the IT sector, covering corporate transactions, specifically desktop computers, laptops, printers and PC monitors.

Whereas laptops are generally more popular with end-users, it is evident that desktops are in higher demand among businesses in Thailand, as reflected by the twofold sales volume of desktops over laptops. Overall, B2B desktop sales through corporate resellers made up 40% of the total desktop market sales volume; significantly higher than the B2B laptop segment which only occupied 12%.

“It is interesting to highlight that laptops and desktop computers in the corporate market have 47 and 20% higher average prices compared to those in the retail sector,” commented Dr. Purepong. “At US$ 828 and US$ 674 respectively, the significantly higher cost paid by corporations is due to the better specifications as well as additional charges that comes with the licensed software and services which accompany corporate requirements.”

Based on GfK Thailand’s predictions, continued demand for IT hardware in the country is anticipated to sustain the buoyant performance of the sector in the later part of the year, driven essentially by the education and financial sectors.

“With many large IT projects by corporations and the government such as the Office of Basic Education Commission in the pipeline, we can expect substantial IT hardware sales coming from these avenues,” said Dr. Wichit. “Hence, we foresee that the strong performance of the B2B IT sector in the second half of the year will hold up or even outshine its first half year results,” he concluded.

Source: GfK Thailand

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