Overall Growth
GfK Asia's report shows that the region's retail PC market expanded in 2006, with an average overall regional increase of 12% for volume and 11% for value when compared to 2005. The figures indicate a slight drop in average unit price across all sectors.
"For notebook PCs, Malaysia led the region with the lowest price points, while the highest average prices were found in neighboring Singapore. In China, the region's greatest market for volume, average prices for notebook PCs were approximately US$1,000," explains Gerard Tan, Commercial Director, IT, GfK Asia.
Personal Computers
During 2006 the greatest increase in the PC market was in personal portable computers, with an average regional volume increase of 33% year on year. Most notable figures came from Indonesia, which returned an impressive increase of 60% for volume and 50% for value in 2006 compared to 2005. Malaysia saw an increase of 57% for volume in 2006 when compared to 2005, a dramatic shift from the previous year's growth of just 4% in this category.
"With major brands fighting for a larger slice of the Malaysian market, the atmosphere became extremely competitive during 2006. This in turn led to price erosion, motivating more Malaysian consumers to purchase," says Mr. Tan.
The retail desktop PC market increased at a much slower rate, gaining an overall average of 3% for both volume and value across the region during 2006 when compared to 2005. The greatest gains were in Vietnam, with an increase of 9% for volume and 12% for value in 2006 against 2005, indicating an increasing average unit price in this growing market. "We are seeing this trend of higher average prices in developing Asia due to consumer migration towards branded desktop PCs, and also LCD monitors," says Mr. Tan.
Stand-Alone Monitors
During 2006 regional retail sales of stand-alone monitors increased an average 10% for volume (just over 2.5 million units) and 5% for value when compared to 2005. China and Taiwan led the region with the highest overall volumes, with over 700,000 units sold in each market in 2006. Yearly growth in monitor volumes was concentrated in Thailand (40%), Singapore (31%) and Australia (23%) when compared to 2005.
"It's important to note the difference between monitors that are purchased individually and monitors that are purchased with a PC as part of a package. LCD monitors are now the standard for branded desktops. The lower growth rates mentioned above are a direct result of this new practice of selling branded PCs with LCD monitors," says Mr. Tan.
Printers
GfK Asia's 2006 report showed that region's overall retail printer market is flat, with some individual markets such as Vietnam (10%), Indonesia (10%), and Malaysia (7%) showing good volume growth, counterbalanced by other, more mature markets, such as Hong Kong (-27%), Taiwan (-26%), Australia (-13%), and Singapore (-9%), which showed significant falls in volume when compared to 2005. Alternately, small photo printers were growth segments in many of these same markets (Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong), with unit growth rates in excess of 50% each for 2006 over 2005.
Multifunctional Devices
Of the seven Asian countries surveyed*, multi functional devices increased an average of 28% for volume and 17% for value in 2006 compared to 2005. Malaysia showed the greatest year-end volume increase of 126%, followed by Singapore (37%) and Thailand (36%) in 2006 against 2005. Value growth was lower than volume growth in all markets, indicating a continuing regional trend of lower unit prices, "A sure sign that multi-function printers are replacing single-function printers in many parts of Asia," finishes Mr. Tan.
