Report: Q2 PC Channel Sales Best Since Recession

In the GTDC's PC Market Index, PC sales in the U.S. through distributors increased 19 index points to an index score of 151 in the second quarter compared to the year-ago quarter and 14 index points higher than the first quarter of 2011.

Distribution sales increased at a higher rate than the combined overall sales growth of major IT vendors including Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Cisco Systems, Microsoft, EMC and others, indicating that those vendors are looking more to the channel to sell their products, said Tim Curran CEO of the GTDC.

"There are more vendors coming into distribution and more shifting business back to distribution," Curran said. "That's not surprising. When you through a downturn, companies look at their SG&A, they look at costs, they realize distribution is the lowest-cost route to market."

The index scores are calculated using revenue and average selling prices compared to a normalized starting point, in this case the first quarter of 2009, according to the GTDC. For example, an index score of 151 in the last quarter means 51 percent more PCs were sold than compared with the first quarter of 2009.

The first quarter of 2009 was the period in which PC sales hit bottom during the recent recession, Curran said. Since then, the U.S. index has been higher than 100 but the second-quarter score of 151 was a record high since the GTDC launched the index was launched in 2009.

In Europe, the PC Index slipped to 92, down seven points from the second quarter last year. Flat unit volume sales were offset by a decline in average selling prices, according to the GTDC, and Spain and Italy were among the weaker-performing countries while Germany was a strong performer in Europe.

The GTDC uses The NPD Group's Distributor Track in the U.S. and Context SalesWatch in Europe to track sales. The PC category includes desktops, notebooks, tablets, workstations and some servers, according to the GTDC.

"Sales remain very strong in spite of the overall softness of the macro economy," Curran said. "PC sales are a main driver of productivity so they continue to be strong. Notebooks are very robust, desktops are very robust. Tablets are [too] but we don't have iPads in the [tablet] number."

In addition to PCs, other product categories are also strong, Curran said. Most categories have shown increases in unit sales and average selling prices compared to the first quarter of 2009.

"We don't have an index on other categories, but for the U.S. market, almost all product categories are in the in the upper right [quadrant]," Curran said. "The U.S. recovery is very broad-based and is lifting most product categories. Some more than others but almost all saw [unit volume and average selling price] lifts. IT is a sector that is helping lift the overall US economy. It continues to drive productivity and that's good for U.S. businesses."