IT sales are also having a major impact on the electrical retail market with most national and multinational chains showing between 28% and 40% of their revenue now coming from sales of IT Products. This strong performance in retail channel sales has been fuelled by a number of factors including continued commoditisation of IT products, the increase in broadband usage across Europe and the growth in e-tail sales.
Based on interviews with senior managers, The Retail Channel in Europe – The Top 500, profiles all the retailers who sell PCs and other IT-related products in volume. This includes top European superstores, cash and carrys, department stores, hi-fi/electrical stores, hypermarkets, assembler/retailers, toy stores, stationers and music stores from Bulgaria to Belgium and Iceland to Italy.
Alan Norman, managing director at IT Europa, comments: “Vendors are relying on the retail channel to drive the volume end of the consumer and small business market. Success depends on their ability to form relationships with major retailers and meet the specific demands from consumers for plug and play solutions. The explosion of the Internet and broadband across Europe is feeding the demand for ‘off the shelf’ solutions in the retail market.”
Selling the PC can be the start of a long relationship with customers as they expand their systems with storage, wireless, video and other peripherals and software. To this end many retailers are developing their operations to cover the whole spectrum of IT solutions for consumers and small businesses.
IT Europa’s The Retail Channel in Europe – The Top 500 database report, provides detailed profiles of the top 500 Retailers across 38 European countries. These profiles include sales details and breakdowns by hardware and software and identify areas of specialisation and key vendor partners.
