Vietnam corporate IT churns US$23M

Vietnam's corporate PC and printing devices market for January 2012 was valued at over US$23 million, with sales comparatively lower than other months because of the Lunar New Year, reports GfK, which says sales were expected to pick up pace in the following months.

In a statement Wednesday, the market researcher said over 69,000 units of laptops, desktop computers, monitors and printers were sold in the Vietnamese business-to-business market (B2B) in the first month of 2012. Monitors contributed the largest sale volume with 21,000 units sold at an average of US$112 per unit, said Van Tran Khoa, general manager of GfK Vietnam.

With nearly 15,000 units sold, laptops--which averaged at US$617 per unit--contributed the largest dollar value, he added.

According to Van, corporate sales were expected to pick up in the following months as many businesses closed for the lunar new year holiday in January.

Demand for desktop computers and laptops in the corporate market would likely see a significant spike in 2012, said GfK. Sales of laptops in the B2B market were expected to reach 20 percent of the total laptop market in 2012, up from 15 percent last year, it said.

Market share of commercial desktops would also increase this year to reach 50 percent of the total desktop market, up from 40 percent in 2011.

Van said: "The high inflation experienced by the country for most part of 2011 had affected corporate spending across all sectors, taking into consideration also that a small percentage of small and midsize private companies were closed due to tough economic conditions."

However, with the "slew of counter measures" implemented by the Vietnamese government, he said the country's economy would improve and lead to more budget for commercial activities and B2B sales.

According to stats released in December by IDC, the top 5 PC vendors in the Vietnamese PC market in third-quarter 2011 were Dell, Asus, Hewlett-Packard, Acer and Lenovo.