Europe has seen a bleak view of the PC market with shipments falling by 20 percent year on year.
That’s the latest from Context, which said that the first quarter of 2013 saw the drop with the steepest decrease occurring in Central and Eastern Europe.
The research company said these areas were most hit as a result of continued inventory weaknesses in Russia, which contributed to a decline of 23 percent for the region over the first quarter of this year compared to last year.
Russia itself saw PC shipments drop by 29.1 percent followed by Poland with a drop of 19.1 percent.
Over in Western Europe the picture wasn’t any brighter with figures showing a decline of 22 percent and almost every country registering double-digit falls including Spain at one end with a fall of 35.2 percent and the UK at the other with a drop of 16.6 percent.
The Middle East and Africa however, had a better quarter, with a lesser decrease of 11 percent recorded including Turkey where shipments fell by only two percent.
However, the future remains bleak with the company projecting a similar trend for Q213 with inventory continuing to be an issue in certain countries.
It said vendors were expected to act cautiously with their sell-in levels to avoid excess stock accumulations especially prior to the third quarter back to school period.
