International technology brands are gaining momentum in the South African market and successfully unseating local OEMs` dominance in market share.
This trend has been confirmed by the latest IDC figures on the South African PC market and furthermore echoed by the figures Tarsus Technologies` quarterly summary of product shipments reflects.
Pierre Spies, CEO of Tarsus, says IDC`s figures showed that internationally branded computers experienced a combined 28% year-on-year growth, where the top three local brands experienced a combined 1% decline in shipments.
"This is on the back of a desktop market that grew at 6% over the previous quarter last year. It has meant that the top three international brands have increased their combined market share from 50% last year, to 56% this year," Spies explains.
Spies says this change in the market has been driven predominantly by the international vendors` more aggressive approach to the South African market, and emerging markets in general.
"The international vendors we represent have all changed their go-to-market strategies and become extremely aggressive in terms of pricing, features, after-sales support and innovative bundling solutions," he continues.
"I don`t think the situation will be changing either," he adds. "While I foresee the international brands continuing to gain traction locally, there is still a great deal of opportunity in the space occupied by local OEM brands and substantial room for value-added services here."
Spies says that of the international vendors capitalising on this growth, HP is the clear leader.
"HP`s business grew by 118% in the notebook market in comparison to the same quarter last year, a trend that has driven its market share in notebooks from 18% to 30%."
Similarly, Spies says that HP`s desktop business grew by 37% in a market where the average growth rate was 6%.
"Summing things up, it`s clear that there`s a trend towards emerging markets becoming a strong focus area for many international vendors. Over the coming year, I believe this trend will continue and we will see an increasingly aggressive stance from all of the international vendors active in South Africa. "While this undoubtedly bodes well for the customer, since better value will be had by buyers in the consumer, SME and enterprise markets, it also shows that the local PC market is maturing and has piqued the interest of some of the world`s leading vendors.
"This will mean increased choice and quicker time to market for technology, which can only bode well for the health of the market in the foreseeable future," he concludes.
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With more than 20 years of experience in the ICT industry, Tarsus is the leading value-added distributor in South Africa, specialising in the supply of the world`s foremost PC and peripheral hardware brands to the local reseller channel.
Tarsus strives to meet the channel`s needs for credit funding, stock availability and efficient logistics, ensuring that resellers are able to deliver the highest quality service to their customers, focus on support and compiling the best overall solutions for their end-user customer base at the lowest possible cost.
The company prides itself on its flexibility, adaptability, knowledge, skills and successful track record combined with an industry-leading ability to manage large roll-outs. These are the reasons Tarsus has consistently been rated as the top distributor in the country by international vendors, resellers and the IT media alike.
With its strong commitment to the South African channel, Tarsus is able to not only make the reseller channel more efficient, but more importantly, it plays a vital role in dramatically reducing the costs of doing business in the local ICT market.
Brands represented by the Tarsus stable include industry leaders like Acer, Cisco, HP, IBM, Lenovo, OKI, Logitech, Samsung, TallyGenicom, Targus and Wyse Technology.
More information about Tarsus is available at http://www.tarsus.co.za.
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