Context carries out its Shipment research by collecting "Sell In" figures from the vendors on a quarterly basis, covering both International / Pan European vendors and Local/National vendors, which report their sales figures according to all their different sales channels, such as Assemblers, Distributors, Corporate Resellers, Retailers/Etailers, Mail Order companies, and including direct sales to end-users.
Shipments product coverage includes:
- PCs (Desktops, Notebooks, Tablet PCs, Servers, Workstations and Thin Clients)
- Printers (Inkjet and Laser printers, All-in-One Laser, Printer-based MFP, All-in-One Inkjet, Copier MFP)
- Displays
Context then researches the channel buyers once a year ie. companies buying products directly from the vendors.
This allows Context to cross-check the figures provided by the Vendors for each country against the overall market size and channel make-up, as well as find local IT brands sold by national assemblers or distributors. This in turn allows Context to provide estimates for the proportion of the market selling direct to the end-user.
