LED sell-throughs surpass LCD sales for the first time in the country, the latter dropping 38% quarter-on-quarter as leading vendors discontinue the product line
Chennai : Standalone PC display sell-throughs in top 30 cities of India registered at 5.95 lakh units during October-November-December 2011, recording a 23% fall quarter-on-quarter on account of a slow market. 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.
Table 1. India 30-City Standalone PC Monitor Sales (lakhs of units) and Growth Trends (%) by Form Factor*: October-December 2011 vs July-September 2011
* Source: CMR’s India 30-City Monthly Standalone PC Monitor Market Review for October-December 2011, March 2012
In a first for the country, the India standalone PC monitor market saw LED sell-throughs touch nearly 59% 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% 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% share followed by LG and Acer respectively during 4Q 2011. For LED PC monitor sales during 4Q 2011, LG continued to be in the top spot with a 31% market share. Samsung replaced Acer in second place, while AOC maintained its position at the fourth spot.
According to Sumanta Mukherjee, Lead Analyst, Information Technology Practice, CMR, “The India market was slow in 4Q 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”, Sumanta further added.
India Standalone PC Monitor Market by Region
In terms of regional split, southern India contributed the maximum sales of around 37%, followed by western, northern and eastern India. Northern and western India saw a growth in their shares during 4Q 2011 due to festive season sales extending to the month of October 2011.
Amongst the top five vendors, LG and Samsung saw more than 60% 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 Standalone PC Monitor Market by Screen Size: Decline of the 15.6”W LCD
The India market for the 15.6”W LCD monitor witnessed a drop of 45% in volume terms in 4Q 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% 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.
Table 2. India Standalone PC Monitor Market by Screen Size (%age share of shipments): Q3 2011 vs Q4 2011
* Source: CMR’s India 30-City Monthly Standalone PC Monitor Market Review for October-December 2011, March 2012
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% of their business is generated by the LED category.
According to Narinder Kumar, Lead Analyst, IT Channels Research, CMR, “Major vendors faced the heat of a slower market in 4Q 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”, Narinder further added.
Notes for the Editors
1) The CyberMedia Research India 30-City Monthly Standalone PC Monitor Market Review for consumer channels is based on sell-throughs of Tier II PC monitor dealers across the top 30 cities of India.
2) The study covers five major PC monitor vendors – Acer, AOC, Dell, LG and Samsung.
3) The study does NOT include Institutional and LFR (Large Format Retail) sales by vendors.
4) The study currently covers PC monitors under two technologies – LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and LED (Light Emitting Diode).
5) The top 30 cities covered in the study by region are listed out below:
