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Russians are increasingly using computers until they are completely worn out and do not buy new ones.

Sales of personal computers (PCs) in the first six months of 2022 in Russia amounted to 1.18 million devices, analysts of the Marvel distributor estimated. This is 20.3% lower than a year earlier. Sales of American vendors HP and Dell, which traditionally led the Russian market before the start of its in Ukraine, declined the most, according to Marvel data.

"In the second quarter, there was a 42.5% drop in sales, which was offset by sales in the first quarter, which turned out to be at the same level as last year," said a representative of Marvel. Sales of HP computers decreased by 49% in six months compared to the same period in 2021, in total about 80,000 PCs of the brand were sold, he says. The Chinese Lenovo turned out to be the market leader, sales of its computers increased by 3% to 95,000 pcs. and took 8% of the market. 

Against the background of the departure of foreign competitors, sales of the Russian Aquarius brand increased significantly – by 12% to 61,000 devices, its market share was 5.2%, the source added. "Among Russian brands, sales of DNS/DEXP devices decreased (by 24% to 56,700 units) and Depo (by 15% to 57,700 devices)," he noted.

Aquarius CEO Vladimir Stepanov confirmed that the demand for the company's products has increased. "In terms of Aquarius, the growth for the first three quarters is 215%," he said.

Marvel did not disclose data for the third quarter. "It is quite difficult to assume the results of the third quarter, since we see a combination of multidirectional factors. On the one hand, there is a decrease in business activity, on the other – an increase in the availability of components and a drop in prices for them due to a serious decrease in interest in mining, on the third - whether large customers have had time to adjust to the new sanctions realities," says a representative of the distributor. 

According to the representative of Citylink, the popularity of various PC brands was actively changing during 2022. This was due to both the previous shortage of components and supply disruptions, and the departure of major international vendors. In the first quarter, the best-selling brands in the network were IRU, Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo, the representative of the retailer continued. In the second quarter, IRU remained in 1st place, followed by Lenovo and HP, and Acer and Asus rounded out the top five. "In the third quarter, the top brands already looked like this: IRU, Acer, Lenovo, HP and Asus," the source said. He did not name specific figures for the sales of certain brands.

Against this trend, there is a trend of growing consumer interest in buying PC parts with subsequent self-assembly, the representative of Ozon notes. "In October, Nvidia video cards and SSD drives from various manufacturers are habitually leading in the category of large components at Ozon," he noted, without giving specific figures on sales growth. 

Analysts interviewed by Vedomosti explain the decline in sales not only by the withdrawal of large PC vendors from the Russian market, but also by the desire of consumers to save money.

In the conditions of the turbulent economic situation in the country, PC users are trying to use the equipment they have to the last, and to purchase a new one only when the old one becomes absolutely unusable, says Denis Kuskov, CEO of Telecom Daily agency. "Buyers have gone into austerity mode and sharply reduced purchases of durable goods," agrees Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline–Analytics. He also drew attention to the fact that in the second quarter consumer lending "sank significantly", which also could not but affect sales.

PC sales could have been even smaller, but the improvement of the situation was facilitated by growth in the corporate segment against the background of the trend of import substitution, Burmistrov added. This may be related to the growing popularity of the Aquarius brand, Kuskov believes: the company may have a large number of contracts with government agencies and state-owned companies, while other Russian brands whose sales have declined are focused specifically on the b2c segment. "But we must understand that all these brands almost completely use foreign components, so it is difficult to call them fully Russian," the expert clarifies.

According to analysts, there is no need to wait for an improvement in the indicators in the III and IV quarters. And although consumer loans improved the situation with purchases in the third quarter compared to the second quarter, there was no active sales growth, Burmistrov noted. 

"In Russia, the number of IT specialists has physically decreased, and these are direct users of computer equipment. The reason was the relocation of IT companies, and independent relocations against the background of mobilization," he added. In the fourth quarter, sales will also be "very conservative," Burmistrov believes. "A certain positive may be associated with parallel import deliveries and server equipment, but this is more a story related to corporate customers," he concluded. 

"In this sense, computers are in a worse situation than, for example, smartphones and laptops, because this equipment is often given for holidays, whereas PCs are usually purchased by each buyer for themselves," Kuskov believes.

Representatives of Lenovo and Acer declined to comment. Representatives of Depo and DNS did not respond to the request.

Source: www.vedomosti.ru/business/articles/2022/10/21/946637