(Nikkei BP Group)
(No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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| Japan PC Sales Top 1997 Level for Seven Straight Weeks
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September 28, 1998 (TOKYO) -- Sales of personal computers in Japan during
the fifth week of August (Aug. 31-Sept. 6, 1998) rose for the seventh
straight week over 1997 levels.
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PC sales at household electric appliance retailers have been steadily
growing, according to a survey of GfK Japan Ltd., an information service
company dealing with POS data at 2,000 household electronic appliance
stores. Sales during the fifth week increased 0.1 percent in units from
the previous week and 1.5 percent in value.
Compared to the same week the previous year
(Sept. 1-7, 1997), sales this year increased by 57.5 percent in quantity
and 53.4 percent in amount (See table). Since
the third week of July 1998, sales have exceeded levels of the same
week of 1997, or seven weeks in a row.
The average sales price increased from the previous week's 225,646 yen
(US$1,650) to 228,794 yen (US$1,670), a rise of 3,148 yen.
The fifth week of August comes between the summer sales season and the
year-end season. Therefore, sales normally stayed at the same level
of the preceding year or decreased for the past several years. However,
this year the trend is running counter to the convention, showing growth
in sales compared to the previous week.
In the fourth week of August 1998, desktop PCs did especially well because
of Apple Computer Inc.'s iMac launch. This week, sales of desktops decreased
by 7.1 percent from the previous year on a unit basis, but that was
covered by growth in notebook PCs. As a result, the percentage of notebooks
to total sales again exceeded 50 percent.
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 of the 5th week of August in1998 (Source: GfK Japan)
"Year-before
weekly comparison" is comparison with September 1 to 7, 1997. |
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(return to news)
Related story: iMac Stimulates Japan PC Sales in 4th Week of August
(Nikkei Market Access
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