SA lapping up PCs and notebooks

PC and notebook retailers say increases in South Africa over the same period outstrip the global average.

David Hirsch, the merchandise executive at Incredible Connection’s parent Connection Group, says sales of notebooks and PCs are “up by almost 50%” when compared with the second quarter of 2004.

“We have seen a lot of growth for more than a year now,” says Hirsch. He says this has been driven by price deflation in hardware owing to a stronger currency (fewer rands are needed to buy a dollar than two years ago). He also notes that there is more disposable income in the market.

Grant Pattison, the deputy CEO of JSE-listed Massmart, which includes household names like Game, Makro and Dion’s, says unit growth has been “greater than 20%”.

“The number one reason is the ability to afford a computer. While the number of units sold has increased substantially, we have seen deflation of greater than 10%. You can now buy a whole computer set, including a printer, for under R4 000. Also, consumers have had a good year in light of lower interest rates,” says Pattison.

Both Hirsch and Pattison say notebooks are flying off the shelves faster than their desktop-bound counterparts. Says Pattison: “Laptop prices have come down significantly, and with the difference in price having reduced, more people – especially small business owners – are opting for mobility.”

The top PC brands in South Africa are Hewlett-Packard, Mecer (each with 20% market share, according to technology analyst Irnest Kaplan) Proline, Dell, and Sahara.

JSE-listed Mustek is the custodian of the HP and Mecer brands in South Africa, while another listed company, Pinnacle, is home of the locally assembled Proline brand. For the year to end-June, Pinnacle was the second-best performer in the technology sector in terms of share price, up 92% from 52c to 96c.

Mustek has put in a more subdued showing, up 3,7% over the period from R9,74 to R10,10.

Globally, Dell is the biggest shipper of PCs and notebooks, with 17,9% of global market share in the second quarter, or 8,7-m computers sold. Dell is followed by HP, with 14,6% market share, selling 7-m computers in the second quarter.