IT sector holds its own in tough climate

Latest GfK figures on UK durable sectors reveal IT is one of few growth areas in 2012

The UK durable market fell 2.7 per cent in May compared with the same month in 2011, but the IT sector was one of the star performers, according to the latest GfK figures.

In a report entitled GfK Market-i – An insight into May 2012 UK durable sectors, the analyst looked at a range of products including PCs, smartphones, peripherals, gaming devices, monitors and memory cards, sold through a variety of channels including the B2B IT channel.

Despite hopes that sporting events would have given a boost to product sales in categories such as televisions, the consumer electronics sector has not grown overall as a result, the analyst said.

“Low-ownership devices remain the key growth areas at the moment, such as web books in the IT sector,” the report said, with the situation “likely to continue until customer confidence improves”.

Year on year the IT sector saw growth of 7.8 per cent, with other growth areas being office equipment and small domestic appliances. Sectors that saw a decline included telecoms (-17.5 per cent), DIY, and consumer electronics with an 18.7 per cent decline.

IT was one of the few sectors to also see month-on-month growth of 8.3 per cent compared with telecommunications, which saw a 17.3 per cent drop in sales.