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LED sell-throughs surpass LCD sales: CMR study

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CIOL Bureau
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NEW DELHI, INDIA: Standalone PC display sell-throughs in top 30 cities of India recorded a 23 per cent fall at 5.95 lakh units during October-December 2011, compared to the previous quarter, on account of a slow market, according to a CyberMedia Research (CMR) study.

The post festive season slack was compounded by the global squeeze in supply of key components on account of the devastating 2011 floods in Thailand, home to manufacturing facilities for a number of vendors.

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In a first for the country, the India standalone PC monitor market saw LED sell-throughs touch nearly 59 per cent of total PC monitor sell-throughs during the October-December 2011 quarter. This can be attributed to leading vendors discontinuing production of LCD technology based models and at the same time promoting the LED form factor.

In terms of overall India standalone PC monitor sell-throughs, LG continued to be at a leading position with 27 per cent market share followed by Samsung. Acer and AOC were at third and fourth spots, respectively while Dell managed the fifth spot.

In terms of LCD PC monitor sales, Samsung was the market leader with a 26 per cent share followed by LG and Acer respectively during Q4 2011. For LED PC monitor sales during Q4 2011, LG continued to be in the top spot with a 31 per cent market share. Samsung replaced Acer in second place, while AOC maintained its position at the fourth spot.

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According to Sumanta Mukherjee, lead analyst, Information Technology Practice, CMR, “The India market was slow in Q4, 2011, due to a rise in prices of PC monitors, even as availability was restricted due to supply chain bottlenecks, particularly on account of the floods in Thailand. This was further compounded by rising prices of assembled PCs due to lower supplies of hard disk drives and key components.”

“Higher prices of assembled desktop PCs made a segment of customers migrate to branded desktop PCs and entry level laptop PCs”, Mukherjee further added.

In terms of regional split, southern India contributed the maximum sales of around 37 per cent, followed by western, northern and eastern India. Northern and western India saw a growth in their shares during Q4 due to festive season sales extending to the month of October 2011.

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Amongst the top five vendors, LG and Samsung saw more than 60 per cent of their business coming from southern and western India collectively. AOC had almost equal business from all regions, while Acer and Dell received more than half of their business from southern India.

The India market for the 15.6”W LCD monitor witnessed a drop of 45 per cent in volume terms in Q4 2011, as compared to the previous quarter; LG declared it would discontinue its business in the category.

In comparison, 15.6”W LED monitor sell-throughs increased by 10 per cent quarter-on-quarter on account of a rise in volumes for all the vendors, especially Samsung. AOC witnessed growth in its 21.5”W LED business. Other small vendors like Beetel, Viewsonic, Intex, Mercury etc. witnessed growth in a few pockets due to their lower priced offerings as compared to the major MNC vendors. For these small vendors close to 80 per cent of their business is generated by the LED category.

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According to Narinder Kumar, lead analyst, IT Channels Research, CMR, “Major vendors faced the heat of a slower market in Q4 2011, especially with regard to their upcountry business. Channel partners were faced with working capital woes due to delays in realization of payments from a level below.”

“The current market situation is uncertain as the overall economic climate in the country is impacted by high interest rates, rising global commodity prices and lukewarm investor sentiment. While supplies of some electronic components have shown signs of revival in the last few months, it is not clear whether hard disk drive, and consequently PC prices will stabilize in the near term”, Kumar concluded.