Back-to-school season boosts PC sales
Sales of Microsoft Windows-equipped notebooks fell 4% in July and August, while August sales increased 4% over the same period last year.
“The sequential results from NPD's back-to-school point-of-sale (POS) data indicates that, after a shortfall early in the year that was mostly related to the difficult comparisons to the binge of buying after the release of Windows 7, the Windows notebook market remains solid,” BRG quotes NPD vice-president of industry analysis, Stephen Baker, as saying.
“The last two weeks of August are the most important period for back-to-school buying, and those weeks saw more than an 8% increase over last year in retail sales.”
According to XBit Laboratories, a prime driver of the sales volume increase was a drop in average selling prices (ASPs). During July and August, ASPs for Windows notebooks were $477, which is a 7% decline from the same period last year.
The drop in ASPs resulted in a record 65% of all notebook sales occurring in products sold for less than $500. Sales in this crucial segment grew 12% versus last year, while sales results for Windows notebooks above $500 fell 23%.
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