PC Monitor Sell-Throughs In Top 30 Cities Of India Grow 17% In 3Q 2011 Over 2Q 2011

LED sales grow 88%, LCD sales start to decline signifying a generational shift in technology

Chenna: The overall India PC Monitor sell-throughs in top 30 cities touched 7.41 lakh units during the July-August-September 2011 quarter recording a 17% sequential growth on account of pre-festive buying, according to a recent study by premier IT, Telecoms, Semiconductor & Electronics, Government, Entrepreneurship, Energy & Healthcare and User research firm CyberMedia Research.

Table 1. India 30-City PC Monitor Sales (lakhs of units) by Form Factor and Growth Trends: July-August-September 2011 vs. April-May-June 2011*

* Source: CyberMedia Research India 30-City Monthly PC Monitor Market Review, November 2011

In the overall India PC Monitor market, LG retained leadership position with 31.3% share in terms of sales (units shipped) while Samsung and Acer took the second and third spots, respectively. AOC and Dell completed the top five.

In terms of LCD sales, Samsung led the pack with a 27.6% units share followed by LG and Acer, respectively during 3Q 2011. For LED sales, LG retained the top spot with a 36.6% units share. Acer and AOC grabbed the second and third places, respectively.

How the India PC Monitor market pans out by region

The present coverage of the CyberMedia Research study indicates that southern India contributes a hefty 39% of all PC monitor sales, followed by western, northern and eastern India, in that order. Among the top 5 players, LG has close to equal contribution from southern India and western India, while Acer and Dell have more than half of their sales originating from southern India. Samsung had a high proportion of sales from southern India, as well. However, AOC remained almost evenly distributed across the regions.

The India PC Monitor market by screen size: The 15.6″ is moving out, or is it?

Table 2. India Standalone PC Monitor Market Sell-throughs by Screen Size: 2Q 2011 versus 3Q 2011

* Source: CyberMedia Research India 30-City Monthly PC Monitor Market Review, November 2011

“Samsung re-entered the 15.6″ W monitor category with an LED offering after a period of one year. However, in general all major vendors are gradually reducing focus on the 15.6″ W LCD segment due to low margins. This opened a window of opportunity for small vendors like Beetel, Intex, Simmtronics and others in the 15.6″ segment leading to their growth in certain pockets of the country”, stated Sumanta Mukherjee, Lead Analyst, PCs, Peripherals, Accessories and IT Channels, CyberMedia Research Infotech Practice.

“Over time aesthetics has emerged as a differentiator as vendors are launching ‘slim’ or ‘ultra-slim’ monitor models. The underlying business logic is to build brand preference and thereby command a premium in a highly commoditised market. New technological enhancements like 3D and HDMI are also attracting customers’ attention. Vendors like LG, Dell and AOC launched IPS or In-Plane Switching panel based monitors as a means to signal technological superiority”, Sumanta added.

Challenges Ahead

“Weakening of the Indian Rupee vis-à-vis the US Dollar led to a second round of price increases by vendors this year. Distributors in a few cities stocked up on larger inventories to avail the benefits of an impending price rise”, stated Narinder Kumar, Analyst, Peripherals, Accessories and IT Channels, CyberMedia Research Infotech Practice.

“A majority of standalone PC monitors are still sold, bundled with assembled PCs. A sudden drop in supply volumes of internal hard disk drives caused a sharp increase in prices of this key component. This will continue to hamper assembled PC sales over the next few quarters, consequently affecting standalone PC monitor off-take”, Narinder surmised.