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PC LEADERS EXCHANGE MARKET SHARE LEAD AS RETAIL SALES
BOOM
Late last month, Computer Intelligence InfoCorp
(CII) of La Jolla, Calif. released market share data on the largest
PC suppliers. There were some surprises in the latest figures. Overall
sales of both desktop and portable personal computers in U.S. retail
channels increased 49% in the fourth quarter of 1995 over the fourth
quarter of 1994.
The findings are from CII’s StoreBoard Channel Tracking database.
It tracks U.S. sales channel performance and trends for computers, printers
and software. Within StoreBoard retail channels are Consumer Electronics
Stores, PC Superstores and Office Superstores.
One surprise was the collective market share of last year’s leading
vendors Packard Bell, Compaq and Apple saw a major decline, from 70%
to 56.6% of PC sales. Apple had the largest market share drop in the
last quarter of 1995 compared to the same period of 1994, 5.6 percentage
points—fully one-third of its 4Q 1994 retail share.
Acer replaced Apple in the third position. The company managed a 12.2%
market share in 4Q 1995, up from an 8.9% market share in 4Q 1994. The
feat is all the more surprising since Acer used only one of StoreBoard’s
three retail channels. Of Acer’s fourth quarter sales 99% went
through Consumer Electronics Stores.
Hewlett Packard was another fast-moving vendor. With no presence in
the retail channel in 4Q 94, it gained a respectable 7.8% in 4Q 1995,
the highest gain of the major vendors. Other up and coming players in
this market are Digital Equipment Corporation and NEC, which in the
fourth quarter of 1994 together managed less than 1.5% of market share,
but in the fourth quarter of 1995 accounted for over 3.9%.
Packard Bell, maintained first place, but grew slower than the PC market
as a whole: 24% year-to-year growth, compared to 49% growth for the
total retail market. In December 1995, Packard Bell’s grew only
4.7% over December 1994, in comparison to the industry average of 35.1%.
By contrast, Compaq enjoyed good growth in the retail channel from 4Q
1994 to 4Q 1995 and retained second place, but fell behind the industry
average.
“The top three vendors in retail Packard Bell, Compaq, and Apple
all grew more slowly than the rest of the market,” says Matt Sargent,
CII’s Industry Analyst for PC Hardware. “These top vendors
were well positioned in 1994 and had little competition. But 1995 was
different, as other vendors introduced retail-specific models, raising
the number of options for consumers and thus the level of competition.”
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| YEAR-TO-YEAR RETAIL
SALES GROWTH 4Q 1994 TO 4Q 1995 |
| Vendor |
Growth Rate |
| Packard Bell |
24% |
| Compaq |
32% |
| Apple |
-1% |
| Acer |
104% |
| IBM |
48% |
| Toshiba |
110% |
| Hewlett Packard |
(N/A) |
| Other |
53% |
| Total |
49% |
| Source: CII StoreBoard Channel Tracking
February 1996 |
| RETAIL MARKET
SHARE CHANGES, 4Q 1994 TO 4Q 1995 |
| Vendor |
4Q 94 |
4Q 95 |
Gain Loss |
Share Change |
| Packard Bell |
33.4% |
27.9% |
-5.4 |
-16.3% |
| Compaq |
19.8% |
17.5% |
-2.2 |
-11.2% |
| Apple |
16.8% |
11.2% |
-5.6 |
-33.5% |
| Acer |
8.9% |
12.2% |
3.3 |
37.1% |
| IBM |
5.4% |
5.4% |
0 |
-0.1% |
| Toshiba |
4.6% |
6.5% |
1.9 |
41.0% |
| Hewlett-Packard |
0% |
7.8% |
7.8 |
N/A |
| Other |
11.1% |
11.4% |
0.3 |
2.7% |
Source: CII StoreBoard Channel Tracking
February 1996 |
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