(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| Japan's Personal Computer Sales Surge at Year-End
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January 25, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Japan's personal computer sales in the fourth
week of December, the last week of 1998, rose by nearly 50 percent compared
with the same week a year earlier.
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The PC market for individual use recovered a degree of liveliness on
the strength of the popularity of Windows 98. The market's buoyant tone
exceeded the expectations of PC vendors.
According to GfK Japan Ltd., PC sales at about
2,000 volume retailers during the fourth week of December (Dec. 28,
1998 - Jan. 3, 1999) increased 1.2 percent from the previous week in
the number of PCs sold but decreased 2.9 percent in value. (See
table.)
However, in comparison with the same week a year earlier (Dec. 29, 1997
- Jan. 4, 1998), sales rose 48.4 percent in number, and scored an upswing
of 48.2 percent in value. The average sales price fell 9,474 yen from
233,821 yen (US$2,060) during the previous week to 224,347 yen (US$1,980).
GfK Japan is an information service company handling POS data for volume
sales stores specializing in home appliances.
As was the case at the end of 1997, the average sales price of a personal
computer fell during the same week, dropping by nearly 10,000 yen (US$88)
for both desktop types and notebook PCs.
With the decline in sales prices, sales inched up, according to the statistics.
Because the 1998 winter PC sales campaign started much earlier than usual,
many analysts feared that the stores would be strained.
The data GfK Japan releases are from about 2,000 outlets of 41 firms.
GfK Japan selected the 41 firms in 1996 and has been releasing their
data since then. GfK Japan covers a greater number of outlets with combined
unit-based sales accounting for about 10 percent of total domestic PC
shipments and about 25 percent of total retail sales.
The following graphs are at the Nikkei
Market Access Web site in Japanese only:
- Trends in the number of (all types of) PCs sold in a week.
- Trends in the sales amount (in money) of (all types of) PCs in a week.
- Trends in the average sales price of (all types of) PCs sold in a week.
- Trends in the number of desktop PCs sold in a week.
- Trends in the sales amount of desktop PCs in a week.
- Trends in the average sales price of desktop PCs in a week.
- Trends in the number of notebook PCs sold in a week.
- Trends in the sales amount of notebook PCs in a week.
- Trends in the average sales price of notebook-size PCs in a week.
Table: PC sales in the fourth week of December 1998 (GfK Japan survey)
Comparison with the same week a year earlier (Dec. 29, 1997 - Jan. 4,
1998). |
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(return to news)
Related story: Japan's
PC Sales in 3rd Week of Dec. Level Off
(Nikkei
Market Access)
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