VietNamNet Bridge - The sharp fall in sales of PCs (both desktop and laptop) has forced distributors and retailers to shut down or sell other products.

In 2005-2007, a laptop sold between $1,200 and $1,500, and retailers pocketed nearly $100 for every laptop sold. Now, the average price is just VND10 million and retailers make a modest profit of several hundred thousands of dong for every product sold, less than 10 percent of retail price. Distributors even make lower profit, just 3-4 percent.

In 2005-2007, a laptop sold between $1,200 and $1,500, and retailers pocketed nearly $100 for every laptop sold. Now, the average price is just VND10 million

Reports by GFK, a market alaysis firm, show a 6-12 percent decrease in sales per annum in the last five years. 

The total demand for PCs from projects, small and medium enterprises and individual clients, as estimated by IDC, is about 1.9 million in 2017, while the figure would drop to 1.72 million in 2018, which means a 11 percent decrease compared to 2016 and 18 percent compared to 2015.

While the sales have become less satisfactory, businesses have to pay more for operation costs, including fuel, transport fee, storage and other services.

The competition in the PC market has become stiff, especially for small retailers. The Gioi Di Dong and FPT Shop, the two big players in the field, which distribute many different technology devices and have large distribution networks, now hold an advantage over small retailers.

GFK said the two big players alone made up 46 percent of sales in 2016.

Many PC shops have to shut down, shift to other types of business or sell other products to earn extra money. Trading PCs is no longer a lucrative business.

Analysts attributed the sharp fall in PC sales to the increased popularity of smartphones. A smartphone can help reduce 60 percent of users’ demand for PC use and satisfy entertainment needs. 

Smartphones and tablets are believed to have higher mobility, better serve the users’ demand for sharing information and for entertainment. Laptops are more frequently used for work.

The analysts also pointed out that the configuration of the next-generation PCs is much higher, so the life of PCs is longer and there is no need for people to change PCs so regularly.

Meanwhile, the demand from public investment projects has decreased as the government tries to tighten control over public investment.

Though PC sales are on the decrease, analysts don’t think PCs will disappear because no device can fully replace PCs, and the demand from university students is still high.

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