In-store CPU sales - What's Hot - personal computer sales - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, April 21, 2003

"Reports of the demise of brick-and-mortar retailing in the personal computing category were greatly exaggerated," said Stephen Baker, director of the NPD Group. "Retail sales outlets were able to leverage the ability to offer a wide selection of brands and product categories; this enabled them to take advantage of the sales opportunities in higher growth categories such as consumables to generate faster growth than the manufacturer-direct channel."

Revenue for the entire category was $25.6 billion during 2002, up slightly from $25 billion in 2001. The retail channel, however, pulled in $16.7 billion compared to $16.2 billion the year before, while the manufacturer-direct channel had sales of $8.9 billion compared to $8.8 billion in 2001.

"Undoubtedly, Dell's printer strategy and Gateway's foray into plasma TVs are deigned as ways that they can expand their expertise as retailers into new, higher growth sales opportunities," he said.