UK sees hike in PC sales as other EU countries witness decline

European PC sales have witnessed a decline during Q3 2015, however the UK has seen sales spike.

New data from analyst Context reports that volume sales of notebooks, desktops and PC workstations through distributors dipped by 3.3 per cent year-on-year across Western Europe.

In comparison, the UK saw sales increase by 11.2 per cent, while Spain also saw a rise of 17.5 per cent.

A year ago during the same quarter, PC sales saw an increase of 22.2 per cent year-on-year as XP-migration and the launch of low-end, Bing-based notebooks boosted growth.

Marie-Christine Pygott, senior analyst at Context said: “The UK, less affected than the Eurozone countries by currency issues over the past few quarters, posted an 11.2 per cent year-on-year growth in PC sales through distributors.

“In Spain, the figure was up by 17.5 per cent as it continued to recover from a long period of decline during the financial crisis.”

Currency issues have also impacted negatively on PC sales during Q3 2015 so says Context, plus the quarter was also impacted by efforts to deplete inventory in many Western European countries.

Denmark saw a sales increase of 11.2 per cent, while Austria’s PC sales went up by 4.9 per cent and France’s by 0.5 per cent.

In contrast, Italy saw a decline of 11.9 per cent, and Germany, Sweden and Switzerland all posted drops of 13.9, 10.5 and 11.3 per cent.

Although the UK has seen a hike in sales, analyst IDC also believes that sales will not stabilise until 2017.

The analyst expects PC sales to shrink by 8.7 per cent in 2015 and will continue to decline through 2016.