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Brazil sees worst quarterly PC sales of 2016

Market segment reaches a new low due to changes in consumer demand, says IDC
Written by Angelica Mari, Contributing Writer

The Brazilian market for PC sales has seen a new low in the third quarter of 2016, with a 35 percent decline in relation to the same period a year ago and 11 percent down on the second quarter.

Some 373,000 desktops and 674,000 notebooks were sold in the country during the third quarter, a decline of 39 percent and 32 percent respectively on the same period a year ago.

According to the analyst, sales went down even though overall prices were 4 percent lower than in the same quarter in 2015, when exchange rates between the US dollar and the local currency, the real, were more volatile.

"The private sector is delaying investments and the purchase of equipment while the public sector is stuck due to the [municipal] elections, change of government, administrations that are in serious debt as well as other political and economic issues," says IDC Brazil analyst Pedro Hagge.

"There is no forecast for improvement in the coming months," he adds.

According to Hagge, the decline in PC sales is also due to changing consumer expectations and buying behaviours.

"It has become increasingly common to see consumers preferring to buy a mobile phone with a more robust spec rather than a computer," the analyst points out.

"We thought that sales would pick up with retailers boosting stocks for Black Friday and Christmas, but that hasn't happened."

IDC predicts that overall PC sales for 2016 will see a total decline of at least 31 percent on 2015 figures.

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