Back to school rush boosts laptop sales

A bumper back-to-school season has boosted PC sales across Europe, although sales to businesses continue to be slow.

Following a slower second quarter, blamed on the World Cup, EMEA PC shipments returned to healthier levels in the third quarter of this year, with year-on-year growth of 11.2 per cent, according to data from IDC.

Demand for laptops continued "unabated" in a buoyant back-to-school season, with laptop sales growth for the quarter standing at 29 per cent across EMEA. But consumer desktop sales proved disappointing, and corporate sales remained soft as expected in the absence of major investment in new hardware, IDC said.

Major rollouts in the corporate space are not expected to pick up until the second half of next year, the analyst house predicted - a factor that continues to impact on desktop sales.

Karine Paoli, research director for IDC's EMEA PC group said the demand for laptops and the level of orders placed by the retail channel for the fourth quarter provide a rather positive outlook for the final quarter of the year.

And while the market will gradually move towards second- or third-time buyers and more sophisticated needs, pressure on margins will remain in the short term, she added.

HP recorded a solid back-to-school quarter with 22 per cent growth, reinforcing its leadership in the region. Dell maintained second position in the overall ranking, with Acer in third, followed by Fujitsu Siemens and Toshiba in fifth.