Research and analysis

Channel business sales, threats and great expectations

Business sales slip up

Since 2003, the percentage of resellers whose sales go exclusively to business customers has fallen from 44 per cent to 34 per cent in 2004, according to Context.

The research firm attributes this sharp decline to the growth of Dell's sales to business customers and to retailers increasingly winning over resellers' traditional customer base. Examples include online retailers such as Dabs and high-street operations such as Dixons Group, which has launched PC World business in a bid to target SMEs.

Not such a big threat

Reseller respondents to Context's Channel Facts survey increasingly see large retail chains as a threat to their commercial business. Worthy of note is the number of resellers that see high-street stores as a 'low threat'.

This may demonstrate that resellers are now more familiar with what the retailers are up to, and have come to the conclusion that they are not so much of a direct threat as first thought.

Commercially viable

Not a single reseller respondent to Context's Channel Facts survey said that retailers were not a threat to their commercial sales. A massive 60 per cent cited PC World as their biggest threat. In comparison, Dell doesn't seem to be such a concern, although many respondents regard Dell as a retailer.

Dell was mentioned as a threat by resellers in all European countries surveyed by Context. Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Dabs and online stores were specifically mentioned by many respondents.

Optimism leads to greater expectations

Resellers went into November and December feeling optimistic, according to Context. Mobile sales expectations were high for December, as they were for hand-held devices. But this may be more to do with holiday season spending on gadgets.

Networks remained fairly static month-on-month, and storage was rock solid. Desktops also saw very little variation. Newer technologies appear to be attracting more interest.

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