Channel drives monitor sales through PC refreshes - analyst

Context says monitor sales through distribution rose 19 per cent at the start of this year

Sales of enterprise-focused monitors have soared at the start of 2019 as channel partners roll out PC refreshes, according to Context.

The research firm found western European sales of business-targeted monitors through distribution grew by 19 per cent year on year in January

Context's senior analyst of displays Dominika Koncewicz said that lower average selling prices (ASP) also boosted demand.

"The growing need for efficient use of space will also accelerate monitor sales, particularly the adoption of models with USB type C."

Broken down, in western Europe, sales of lower-end monitors costing less than €150 enjoyed the biggest rise.

Unit sales shot up by more than 300 per cent year on year in January, which Context says was driven by corporate resellers.

"Such business-targeted monitors were responsible for almost 14 per cent of [total] revenues in western European distribution," the analyst firm said.

"Revenues are also likely to grow as vendors continue to compete by offering businesses more affordable models while looking for their own high-margin niche - be that curved or touchscreen monitors, or those aimed at supporting graphics or medical applications", Koncewic added.

A country split reveals that Poland, Italy and Spain saw the highest year-on-year growth of business-targeted monitors in the region, up 66.4 per cent, 55.7 per cent and 44.59 per cent respectively.

Europe's biggest economy, Germany, was up 22.1 per cent.

Meanwhile, the UK and Austria were the outliers, logging a contraction of -1.5 and -3.8 per cent.