02.08.2017

Black Friday insights - PC Market

 

 

The PC market is no exception in regards to the growing importance of Black Friday in the shopping calendar. Despite strong promotional price cuts, the value of the PC space still benefitted, with Mobile Computing showing +9% YoY value growth in 2016.

Across GfK’s Panelmarket, ~47% fewer price cuts on the day were made vs. Black Friday in 2015, suggesting that retailers may have necessitated lower levels of reactivity, with promotional activity spread across a longer duration in the key November month. However, a YoY sales decline in the week prior to Black Friday in Computing indicates that despite this pre-promotional activity, PC consumers were more inclined to make their purchases during Black Friday and Cyber Monday weeks.

With average selling price rises this year to date, the evolution of 2017’s Black Friday price dynamics will be noteworthy, particularly with the growth in the £400 market seen in 2016’s Black Friday. Impacts of the exchange rate, component shortages, and product mix in the premium end all contributed to record high ASPs in Q1 2017, creating challenges for retailers and manufacturers to hit competitive prices for the same spec devices that we have seen in previous years.

Making an understanding of pricing across channels critical to successful Black Friday execution in the PC market, the online channel has paved the way for Black Friday Computing success. Online Notebook sales grew +57% YoY, driving record high online mix. With online growth maintained in 2017 to date, it is expected this channel will continue to catalyse Q4 shopping.