The monitor market in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) is currently reflecting the very different economic fortunes of the region, according to figures from European display research specialist, Meko.
While sales in the MEA region were up by 10% year on year, Germany, the largest single country market was down by 13% and disastrous results from the economies that have been hardest hit by the current Euro problems (Portugal was down 54% year-on-year), meant that Western Europe was down by 17% overall.
The slowdown is due to lack of end user demand and this is likely to be heightened as we go into the traditionally slow summer season. Meko predicts that reducing consumer demand is likely to influence pricing strategies in the near future.
Sales in the Middle-East and Africa grew by 10% but the effects of unrest in this region are being seen in countries like Egypt already. Russia, on the other hand, continues to show good signs of growth and has done so over the last four quarters.
Samsung remained the number one brand but it saw share dropping by more than 5% to 20%. HP managed to increase volume from Q4 2010, bucking the trend and grabbing a further 2% market share to end up with 13% share.
Azhar Mohd-Hashim, Meko’s Desktop Monitor Analyst commented, “As we go into Q2, conditions will remain tough for monitor brands and raising end demand is going to be key, but not the easiest in current conditions. The introduction of LED backlit models should help. Users are hanging on to the monitors longer and the increase in reliability means that they last longer too. Improved image quality, lower power consumption and other new benefits are needed to convince users to upgrade”.
Download a chart showing desktop monitor sales
