(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| Japan PC Sales Plunge in 3rd Week of August
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September 14, 1998 (TOKYO) -- Windows 98 stimulated the market for personal
computers for individual users, but PC sales in Japan during the third
week of August nonetheless dropped from the previous week.
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The decline was to the level of the second week of July, which is before
Windows 98 was put on the market.
According to figures collected by GfK Japan
Ltd., an information service company that deals with point-of-sales
data of electric appliances volume stores, PC sales during the third
week of August 1998 (Aug. 17-23, 1998) were down 27.9 percent in volume
and down 27.3 percent in value (See table).
Sales also plunged during the same period last year. Therefore, sales
this year are significantly higher than last year: a rise of 59.0 percent
in volume and 52.4 percent in value compared to the same week last year
(Aug. 18-24, 1997). The average sales price of PCs in general also rose
by 1,926 yen from 231,865 yen (US$1,700) to 233,791 yen (US$1,720).
PC sales in the future cannot be forecast based on the results of the
third week of August. PC sales for the four weeks following the release
of Windows 98 were much higher than the same period last year. Sales
results in comparison with last year's achievement after late August
have to be observed to see if they are stable enough to ensure recovery
of the market of PCs for individual users.
The data GfK Japan releases are from about 2,000 outlets of 41 firms.
GfK Japan picked the 41 first in 1996 and has been releasing their data
since then.
GfK Japan covers a far greater number of outlets with combined unit-base
sales accounting for about 10 percent of total domestic PC shipments
and about 25 percent of total retail sales.
The following graphs are at Nikkei
Market Access 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 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 third week of August 1998 (Source: GfK Japan)
Comparison with the same week last year is comparison with the week
from Aug. 18-24, 1997. |
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(return to news)
Related story: Japan's PC Sales in Second Week of August Reach
High Level
(Nikkei Market Access)
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