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CONTEXT Research Updates deliver timely insights on key market segments.
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PCs
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Displays
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Imaging
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Enterprise
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3D Printing
PC Research update
London, 21 February 2023 – Notebook and desktop unit sales plunged in the first four weeks of 2023, falling by −44% and −23% year-on-year respectively, on the back of low consumer confidence and muted business investment, according to CONTEXT, the global IT market intelligence company.
Displays
London, 06 July 2022 – Worsening performance in the consumer market dragged overall European distributor desktop monitor revenues beneath the index baseline in Week 23 of 2022, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
Imaging
London, 03 February 2023 – Sales through European distributors of printer hardware increased in Q4 2022, with both volumes and revenues exceeding expectations, according to CONTEXT, the global IT market intelligence company.
Enterprise
London, 28 February 2023 – European distributor revenues from enterprise networking products surged by 23.4% year-on-year (YoY) in January to bolster the performance of the infrastructure category, according to CONTEXT, the global IT market intelligence company.
3D Printing
Rising prices, divestures and currency fluctuations complicate additive manufacturing industry growth expectations
LONDON, 12 January 2023 – Aggregate 3D Printer unit shipments dropped by -4% during the third quarter of 20221, while systems revenues across the same time period rose by +14%, according to CONTEXT, the market intelligence firm.

PC sales plummet at start of 2023 but room for optimism in longer term
London, 21 February 2023 – Notebook and desktop unit sales plunged in the first four weeks of 2023, falling by −44% and −23% year-on-year respectively, on the back of low consumer confidence and muted business investment, according to CONTEXT, the global IT market intelligence company.
Revenues also fell sharply as a result of the drop in demand driven by the economic climate, geopolitical uncertainty and the cost-of-living crisis. Education deals have also dried up since last year, making comparisons unfavourable.
The amount of excess stock held by distributors across Europe has fallen from a high of 20–30 weeks’ worth six months ago to around 10 weeks now – but this is the result of promotions and heavy discounting in the second half of 2022. Alongside ageing stock, there is still a glut of low-end notebooks in some places, and the cost of inventory is rising everywhere. It is unsurprising, therefore, that distributors trying to avoid a repeat of last year’s overstock are sometimes reluctant to take on new products.
SMB channel hit hard
All channels are starting 2023 with revenues and sales much lower than those of the previous two years, but the biggest difference in notebook revenues is in the SMB channel as smaller sellers are more acutely affected by rising costs – not least of energy – and are having to think about cash flow more carefully during the current downturn.
The gap in revenues from notebooks is not as wide for retailers and etailers, reflecting a stronger-than-expected drop in demand in commercial sales since the end of 2022.
Germany weak
There has been a particularly weak start to 2023 for notebook revenues in Germany where consumer confidence is low and businesses cautious. There have also been very few education sales there, whereas, in Spain, Q4 activity in this sector has spilled over into 2023 leading to a better January. We expect there to be more deals for education notebooks sales in both Spain and Italy in the first half of the year.
Cause for optimism
Revenues from Windows systems have seen a downward trend since the start of the year, but those from Apple systems have recently rallied off the back of new products: some 16,000 M2 Pro-based MacBook Pros were sold at an average of around €2000 per SKU in January. Chrome revenues are down in line with demand from the education sector, and we expect this gap to continue throughout the year.
The drop in PC sales is to be expected given that the economic downturn is worse than was anticipated a year ago. The volatile geopolitical situation is causing businesses to pause investment while consumers continue to suffer from inflation and high energy prices. However, there’s still room for optimism: we can expect product refreshes and pent-up demand to pick the market up by the end of the year, and in particular in the course of 2024.
Normal PC market conditions to return
London, 17 August 2022 – The number of PCs sold declined almost −14% year-on-year in Q2 2022 with sales of mobile computing devices, notebooks, workstations and tablets slumping by −15% and those of desktops by −7%. Despite this, revenue held up well, falling by only −4% which is towards the optimistic end of the range predicted by CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
London, 17 August 2022 – The number of PCs sold declined almost −14% year-on-year in Q2 2022 with sales of mobile computing devices, notebooks, workstations and tablets slumping by −15% and those of desktops by −7%. Despite this, revenue held up well, falling by only −4% which is towards the optimistic end of the range predicted by CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
The latest CONTEXT Forecasting Report predicts that sales will continue to drop as spending on mobile devices returns to normal after the pandemic and the geopolitical situation continues to have an impact. CONTEXT expects education and consumer demand to be significantly lower than last year, which matters because education was particularly strong in 2021. Business sales will also suffer but to a smaller extent. While supply has greatly improved over the first half of this year – and will continue to do so – it is not expected to recover fully.
CONTEXT notes an excess of entry-level stock in the business and consumer markets so expects distributors to reduce prices to try and move stock out, as they did at the end of Q2. At the same time, there are still product gaps at the high end of the business market – thanks to missing components and logistics difficulties – which are making planning difficult and uncertain for many companies.
Even so, the assumption is that growth in the second half of this year will be better than in the first half because of an easier year-on-year comparison and the fact that at least some excess stock will be sold out.
Pessimistic scenario
Confidence and demand are low and mobile computing stock levels remain high, making sell-through harder. There are only isolated pockets of growth and any investment goes to mobile, rather than desktop computing.
Optimistic scenario
Demand improves as offices reopen, although it remains susceptible to pricing of mobile computing devices. Supply at the high end of this market segment improves and momentum builds as desktop installations are refreshed.
PC units sales drop in Q2 but revenues stronger
London, 28 July 2022 – Unit sales of mobile and desktop PCs through European distributors fell sharply in Q2 2022 (by −15% and −7% year-on-year, respectively) as demand weakened, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
London, 28 July 2022 – Unit sales of mobile and desktop PCs through European distributors fell sharply in Q2 2022 (by −15% and −7% year-on-year, respectively) as demand weakened, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
Revenues, however, were not so badly affected, dropping only −4% for mobile computers and staying flat for desktops. As in previous quarters, revenues benefitted from a rise in average sell prices resulting from price increases and changes in the product mix.
One driver for the drop in demand is the market getting back to ‘normal’ after high sales of mobile PCs at the start of the pandemic. High inflation and energy prices, and uncertainty due to the war in Ukraine, are also weighing on both businesses and consumers, putting additional pressure on a market already in decline.
With supply challenges having improved a great deal since the start of the year, demand is, in some cases, now more important than supply. In fact, in many countries there is excess stock– especially of computers aimed at consumers, education and entry-level business buyers. Given the current economic picture, distributors are having a hard time flushing this out, even with aggressive price promotions. Although supply is improving, component shortages, Covid-related factory closures in Asia and container-ship jams are still causing problems for high-end commercial products.
Focus on notebooks
In the business segment, the general decline in notebook sales over Q2 2022 improved towards the end of the quarter. While the situation varies by country, businesses are, on the whole, increasingly nervous about the economic picture and are trying to minimise the impact of cost increases on cash flow. That means upgrading of devices is being pushed down the priority list, especially as there were many upgrades during the pandemic and many smaller businesses are still recovering from that crisis.
In the consumer market, the quarter has also been weak overall even though a push at the end offset this to some extent. However, OECD figures suggest consumer confidence in the top five western European countries is now lower than it was at the start of 2020.
Chromebooks performed well last year at times when supply improved and education projects came through. Apple also had a strong end to 2021 and start of 2022, driven by the popularity of its M1-based products. Distributor sales of both slid in Q2 – apart from the uptick at the end of the quarter noted above. In Apple’s case, this is because of component availability issues (due to Asian factory closures) and because it is shifting some of its business away from the channel and towards direct selling. For Chrome, the steep decline is down to a dearth of the large-scale education projects that boosted sales last year in countries like the UK, Italy and Spain. Windows was, therefore, in a dominant position in Q2 with revenues not far below 2021 levels.

Consumer slump pulls desktop monitor revenue under 2021 average
London, 06 July 2022 – Worsening performance in the consumer market dragged overall European distributor desktop monitor revenues beneath the index baseline in Week 23 of 2022, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
CONTEXT’s Revenue Trend Index (RTI) plots performance against a 100 baseline representing the average weekly revenue in 2021. In Week 23, the RTI for monitor revenues overall was just under the baseline but that for consumer sales was more than −80 points below it. However, the business market continued to perform well, standing at just under 120 on the index. The backstory is one of continuing business demand, as offices reopen and are refurbished following the pandemic, while inflation and cost-of-living challenges depress the consumer market.
As the summer continues, consumers are likely to spend less money on technology hardware and more on holidays and other experiences. A rebound in the desktop monitor market is, therefore, unlikely to happen before the autumn – if there is one at all.
Countries and channels
The breakdown by sales channel tells a similar story. Corporate resellers are performing better than other distributors, with an RTI of around 120 for Week 23, thanks to demand for kit to upgrade offices. Small and medium resellers are also above the baseline; retail chains and business etailers are slightly under but consumer-focused etailers are stuck on −80.
France was leading the charge earlier in 2022 but, as of around Week 21, revenues had converged with those in most other countries and were just under the baseline in the range 0 to −90. Italy is something of an outlier, currently tracking at under −80. CONTEXT research shows that it is due to a sharp decline in consumer demand as cost-of-living increases bite hard.
All eyes on docking monitors
The same market dynamics can be seen in the breakdown of revenue performance by monitor purpose. Gaming (−80) and graphics (−50) monitors have sat under the baseline for most of the year, while docking monitors are soaring above it with the RTI standing at over 200 in Week 23. These monitors feature USB charging and ethernet capabilities making them ideal for hot-desking environments. As firms begin to embrace hybrid working, strong business demand is ensuring that most of the innovation in the market is currently happening in this niche and helping to push up Average Selling Prices (ASPs). Companies with workers splitting their time between home and the office are prepared to spend on more feature-rich models that focus on ease-of-use and connectivity, as they need to invest in fewer units.
Despite rising inflation, ASPs in the consumer space have fallen from a high of €184–5 at the start of 2022 to €180 in May. Meanwhile, ASPs for business desktop monitors rose from €204 in January to €215 in April, before falling back to €205 a month later. Rising ASPs reflect the demand for docking and feature-complete monitors, as do lower unit sales. These trends are broadly expected to continue over the course of the summer.
Monitors and LFDs set for double-digit year-on-year revenue growth in Q2 2022
London, 28 June 2022 – Anticipation of a bumper summer of events could drive growth in revenues from sales of large-format displays (LFDs) as high as 35% year-on-year in Q2, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
London, 28 June 2022 – Anticipation of a bumper summer of events could drive growth in revenues from sales of large-format displays (LFDs) as high as 35% year-on-year in Q2, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
CONTEXT’s latest IT channel briefing report discusses factors that have affected sales of monitors and LFDs through European distributors, including the aftershocks of the pandemic that will continue to have an impact for the rest of the year.
Growth in the consumer market is negative for the first time in 24 months as gamers and other would-be buyers spend their money on other things, leading to a supply glut. In the coming months, rising inflation may also begin to reduce consumer demand. As offices reopen, it is the commercial market which is driving overall sales – although supply chain issues, component availability and expensive logistics costs are still pushing up prices and delaying lead times.
There is little innovation in the consumer market: higher resolutions, bigger screens and higher refresh rates account for most of the changes in new models. On the business side, manufacturers are looking at products such as USB-C docking monitors to support the new trend for hybrid working.
The numbers for Q2
The good news is that revenue from displays and LFDs is likely to grow by double digits in Q2 even with unit sales stumbling. A pessimistic forecast – based on a scenario where component shortages persist into the second half of the year, consumer demand declines significantly, lead times increase and ASPs drop as demand for gaming monitors sinks – would see unit sales of monitors decline by 6.7% year-on-year in Q2 2022 but revenue increase 14.3% over the same period. For LFDs there’s a brighter forecast: unit sales growing by 22.4% and revenue sales surging by 24.8%.
CONTEXT’s optimistic scenario assumes an increase in the availability of business products, recovering consumer demand and the product mix shifting towards more expensive models. That would see unit sales of displays grow by 1.2% year-on-year in Q2 and revenues by 22.7%. For LFDs, the positive scenario also means a tilt towards more expensive products as the impact of the pandemic reduces and the prospect of summer events encourages more investment. Should that happen, CONTEXT predicts unit sales increasing 33% and revenue growth hitting 34.9%.
Enterprise networking revenues look set for double-digit Q2 growth
London, 28 June 2022 – Anticipation of a bumper summer of events could drive growth in revenues from sales of large-format displays (LFDs) as high as 35% year-on-year in Q2, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
London, 28 June 2022 – Anticipation of a bumper summer of events could drive growth in revenues from sales of large-format displays (LFDs) as high as 35% year-on-year in Q2, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
CONTEXT’s latest IT channel briefing report discusses factors that have affected sales of monitors and LFDs through European distributors, including the aftershocks of the pandemic that will continue to have an impact for the rest of the year.
Growth in the consumer market is negative for the first time in 24 months as gamers and other would-be buyers spend their money on other things, leading to a supply glut. In the coming months, rising inflation may also begin to reduce consumer demand. As offices reopen, it is the commercial market which is driving overall sales – although supply chain issues, component availability and expensive logistics costs are still pushing up prices and delaying lead times.
There is little innovation in the consumer market: higher resolutions, bigger screens and higher refresh rates account for most of the changes in new models. On the business side, manufacturers are looking at products such as USB-C docking monitors to support the new trend for hybrid working.
The numbers for Q2
The good news is that revenue from displays and LFDs is likely to grow by double digits in Q2 even with unit sales stumbling. A pessimistic forecast – based on a scenario where component shortages persist into the second half of the year, consumer demand declines significantly, lead times increase and ASPs drop as demand for gaming monitors sinks – would see unit sales of monitors decline by 6.7% year-on-year in Q2 2022 but revenue increase 14.3% over the same period. For LFDs there’s a brighter forecast: unit sales growing by 22.4% and revenue sales surging by 24.8%.
CONTEXT’s optimistic scenario assumes an increase in the availability of business products, recovering consumer demand and the product mix shifting towards more expensive models. That would see unit sales of displays grow by 1.2% year-on-year in Q2 and revenues by 22.7%. For LFDs, the positive scenario also means a tilt towards more expensive products as the impact of the pandemic reduces and the prospect of summer events encourages more investment. Should that happen, CONTEXT predicts unit sales increasing 33% and revenue growth hitting 34.9%.

Printer sales surge in Q4 2022 due to promotions and solid business demand
London, 03 February 2023 – Sales through European distributors of printer hardware increased in Q4 2022, with both volumes and revenues exceeding expectations, according to CONTEXT, the global IT market intelligence company.
CONTEXT data revealed a 12.3% year-on-year (YoY) increase in unit sales and a 27.8% increase in revenue during the period thanks, in part, to aggressive promotions designed to clear entry-level stock and strong business demand for higher-end devices. These factors helped the market perform significantly better than CONTEXT’s most optimistic scenario for the quarter.
Revenue on the rise
Poor market performance in 2021 means the comparatives are favourable, but the product mix has changed over the last year. In Q4 2022 there was more emphasis on high-end consumer printers and mid- and high-end business devices – particularly expensive multi-function laser printers – than in 2021. Alongside price increases for mid- and high-end consumer and commercial products, these factors are largely responsible for the growth in revenues, which has been strong since Week 38. There has been something of a slowdown since Week 52, although both markets are still some way above the revenue trend index baseline.
Small and medium resellers had a strong end to 2022, and this continued into the first week of 2023, driven by business sales across public and private sectors as well as the price rises. We have seen a steady growth in the e-tailer channel since Week 40, highlighting the resurgence of consumer spend. Distributors have also worked hard, using promotions to shift entry-level stock.
Consumables in decline
By contrast, the consumables market declined significantly in Q4: down 18.2 YoY % in unit sales and 11.4% in revenues. That is far worse than CONTEXT’s pessimistic outlook of falls of 9.8% and 6.7%, respectively. A decrease in sales of the ink cartridges that make up over 80% of consumable sales in the region was the main reason but toner sales also fell sharply. Refillable ink bottles are gaining market share and interest in these can only increase throughout 2023 and beyond as they are more economical for consumers and will therefore appeal at a time of higher living costs. Subscription models are becoming more prominent, and since their primary route to market is direct, their value is not captured in distribution channel data.
The average number of pages printed also fell sharply in December (by 12% YoY) despite the return to the office. With paperless policies proliferating in the public and private sectors, this fall is likely to continue
Laser MFP revenues rebound in Q3 2022
London, 08 September 2022 – Revenue from sales of laser multi-function printers (MFPs) through European distributors have been driving the imaging market in Q3, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
London, 08 September 2022 – Revenue from sales of laser multi-function printers (MFPs) through European distributors have been driving the imaging market in Q3, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
CONTEXT’s depth of data enables it to offer unique analyses of the European IT distribution channel. Its Revenue Trend Index (RTI) plots performance using the 2021 average weekly revenue as a baseline which is assigned a value of 100. It shows 2022 business printer sales peaking in Week 30 with an index score of around 115 thanks to demand from public tenders, the opening of new offices and office refurbishments in several countries.
High-end laser devices, in particular MFPs, were behind much of this increase: revenues from inkjet MFPs and single-function printers (SFPs) were below the baseline. Laser MFP revenues began to rise above the index baseline in Week 28 and reached a value of 125 in Week 30. Although this has since fallen, revenues from the category remain well above the baseline and have also outperformed the same period in 2020.
ASP increases drive revenue growth
Business sales of laser devices rebounded in most major European countries, with performance in Germany, Italy and Poland being particularly strong due to solid sales of both mid- and high-end devices. This pattern indicates strong demand from organisations small and large.
Price increases and a shift in product mix have helped to keep revenues growing. Vendor list prices and distributor Average Selling Prices (ASPs) for models aimed at consumers and businesses rose steadily during August with vendor Average List Prices reaching nearly €124 for consumer printers and € 555 for business devices at the end of the month. Increased sales of high-end consumer devices contributed to rising distributor ASPs after the June/July slump caused by promotional offers to clear excess stock of entry-level printers.
Printer hardware decline set to continue
London, 25 August 2022 – Unit sales of print hardware declined sharply year-on-year in Q2 2022 with lower demand, especially for consumer printers, and falling sales of entry-level and high-end business printers, according to CONTEXT, the market intelligence company..
London, 25 August 2022 – Unit sales of print hardware declined sharply year-on-year in Q2 2022 with lower demand, especially for consumer printers, and falling sales of entry-level and high-end business printers, according to CONTEXT, the market intelligence company.
Revenues held up a little better, due to increased Average Selling Prices (ASPs), sales of more expensive consumer models and the purchase of mid- to high-priced business devices for newly reopened offices. Both figures were very close to the forecast made in CONTEXT’s Q2 forecasting report.
Declining ink cartridge sales led to a sharp drop (of 18%) in unit sales of consumables but a lower fall (only 7%) in revenues from this sector of the market. CONTEXT’s pessimistic-scenario forecast was spot on in terms of these revenues, although sales were significantly worse than anticipated.
Demand is softening as life returns to ‘normal’ after the pandemic. Markets are approaching saturation, there is no longer the urgency created by the crisis, and high inflation is sapping consumer demand. However, promotions designed to reduce inventory excess are likely to support sales of consumer devices during Q4 and into the beginning of next year, according to the CONTEXT Forecasting Report Q3 2022.
Individuals and organisations are choosing products more carefully, and distributors and vendors are focusing on growing sales to businesses, particularly Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs). Although ink sales are falling, toner sales are increasing thanks to the return to the office which will be the main driver of the printer market for the rest of the year and during the first half of 2023. This return could also mean Managed Print Services are primed for a comeback over the next six to twelve months.
The supply chain is still a key factor. While overall demand is declining slightly and supply is improving (meaning that backlogs which CONTEXT has seen building up in the last year are getting smaller), high-end multifunction business printers are still being hit by delays that are expected to last until at least the end of the year. Global shortages have left businesses competing for the same raw materials, and some key components remain in short supply. The combination of price increases, supply pressures and continuing transportation issues will not be alleviated anytime soon.
A potential vendor shift to other go-to-market routes, including online sales (either directly or through resellers) is likely to have an impact on distributors.
Finally, growing environmental concerns leading to public- and private-sector adoption of paperless policies are having a negative impact on the printer industry, and this will only build over the years to come.

Enterprise networking drives solid infrastructure performance in start of 1st quarter
London, 28 February 2023 – European distributor revenues from enterprise networking products surged by 23.4% year-on-year (YoY) in January to bolster the performance of the infrastructure category, according to CONTEXT, the global IT market intelligence company.
Renewed component availability and solid demand have been the main drivers of the category, which has seen revenues grow significantly over the last two quarters.
In January 2023, both switching and wireless products performed strongly (with growth of 20.3% and 38.2%, respectively) and the gap between the two sectors continued to diminish as wireless sales begin to slow after an impressive two or three years.
Overall unit sales of switching and wireless appliances grew by 4% YoY: while those of entry-level products declined by 6.9% over the month, mid- and high-end hardware sales increased by 20%. It is, therefore, the latter that drove the revenue surge. More expensive products benefited from supply chain improvements, as they did in Q4 2022.
Servers lag
The enterprise server market could not match this performance. January revenues declined slightly (by 0.2% YoY) and overall unit sales plummeted by 25.8%. Two-socket server sales were down by 22%, one-socket sales by 32%, and four-socket server sales by 40%. Although the fulfilment of outstanding orders, which has been the main driver of growth since the middle of summer 2022, subsided in January, there are persistently high levels of backlog to clear and we are confident this will have a positive impact as Q1 continues.
Storage revenues in Week 5 were slightly above 2021 and 2022 figures after a small drop (of 1.6%) in January. Although the Hyperconverged (HCI) storage segment was the main driver of growth in Q4 2022, its revenues fell by more than 20% YoY in the first month of this year while the more traditional array segment grew by 4%. Falling prices in the solid-state drives (SSD) segment, especially Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) interface products, have also had an impact on storage revenues.
Country by country
Economic uncertainty, the Ukraine–Russia war, and rising energy costs have taken their toll on German business confidence, so solid infrastructure performance there in Week 5 is welcome news. The country saw significant growth in storage (30%) in January, and the server segment performed better than that of any other Top-5 European economy, decreasing by only 3% YoY. With more certainty over energy prices, thanks to a milder than expected winter, and declining inflation, investments should be resuming soon, and Germany could well lead the recovery of this market in the first half of 2023.
At the other end of the spectrum, UK results for January were weak in spite of good performance in Q3 and Q4. In fact, the country is the only one in the European Top 5 where enterprise networking revenue declined (by 4%), and it recorded a 50% YoY drop in storage revenue.
In Italy, overall infrastructure revenues grew, and the 46% growth in networking revenues was the best in the Top 5. However, the country’s server segment performed poorly with revenues falling 25% YoY in January.
UK leads European slowdown in docking station sales
London, 17 February 2023 – Sales of docking stations through UK distributors fell sharply in the first two weeks of 2023 after strong growth last year, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
London, 17 February 2023 – Sales of docking stations through UK distributors fell sharply in the first two weeks of 2023 after strong growth last year, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
Docking stations enable people to quickly connect their laptops to keyboards, mouses, monitors, printers and other peripherals. Since they create the benefits of a desktop setup without sacrificing portability, they are a critical component of the hybrid workplace. As such, there was high demand for the devices in 2022 as pandemic restrictions loosened and workers began to split their time more evenly between home and office. The UK led the way in major European markets in terms of sales of docking stations. But it led the way again at the start of this year as demand declined and sales were unable to match the highs of 2022.
CONTEXT’s Revenue Trend Index plots sales revenue week by week against a baseline of 100 calculated from the weekly revenue average of 2021. Although docking station revenue has recently declined across most key European markets, at the start of 2023, the score on this index stood at 120 in France (so sales were 20% above the 2021 average) and roughly 140 in Spain. Germany is following 2021 sales trends with revenues declining from a starting point of around −90 in Week 1 and Italy appears to be an outlier: revenues are on the rise and it crossed the index baseline in Week 2. By contrast, the UK started 2023 with an index score of −60. While sales are usually slow in the first few weeks of a new year, it appears that UK companies have largely completed their office refurbs. We expect other countries will follow the same pattern and sales across Europe to even out over the course of 2023.
The bigger picture
Across European distribution as a whole, docking station revenue dropped below the index baseline for the first time in a long time in Week 52 of 2022. It was joined by revenues from mobile computing cases and headsets/headphones and microphones, which, as of Week 2, have continued to decline. Keyboards and keypad revenues have been on a downward trajectory since Week 51 of 2022 but only dipped below the baseline recently, in Week 2, while those of mice are also on the decline but remain just above 100 on the index.
In fact, sales of mice are better than the previous years in all five top European markets. Germany started the year with revenue 40% above the 2021 average, and although sales are declining in 2023, they’re doing so less sharply than in 2022. In the UK, Spain and Italy, revenue is also falling at roughly the same rate as previous years but from a higher starting point. France is unusual in recording a slight upward trend.
Infrastructure revenues up as backlogs cleared
London, 16 February 2023 – European revenue from sales of IT infrastructure, which includes servers, storage and networking, were significantly higher in Q4 2022 than in the same period of the previous year due to improved component availability and the clearing of order backlogs, according to the latest data published by CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
London, 16 February 2023 – European revenue from sales of IT infrastructure, which includes servers, storage and networking, were significantly higher in Q4 2022 than in the same period of the previous year due to improved component availability and the clearing of order backlogs, according to the latest data published by CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company.
After significant year-on-year (YoY) revenue growth in Q3 2022 – the best we have seen in the last four years – the server market continued to expand in Q4 2022 with revenues up +34.8% on Q4 2021. However, the number of servers sold stayed relatively flat and increased by only +1.3%. This reflects an increase of almost +30% in the average selling price (ASP) of a configured server over the year.
Exchange rate fluctuations and higher production and delivery costs are pushing up ASPs but these increases were not the only drivers of revenue growth in the last quarter. The product-mix change we saw in Q3 2022 continued to develop: in Q4, the number of of 2-socket servers sold was up by +13.4% whilst those of 1-socket servers fell by −16.1% YoY. This means that distributors are selling more expensive configurations. Server product availability has been significantly impacted by shortages since the beginning of 2022 and, although backlog orders of configured servers began to clear in the middle of the summer, those for higher-end – and thus more costly – configurations with more components have had to wait longer.
Overall 2022 server revenues were +18% than in 2021, which is good news for the industry.
Storage revenues also continued to grow in Q4 2022 – up by +7.1% YoY. This was driven by strong performance of the Hyper Converged Infrastructure (HCI) segment, where revenues increased by +25%, whilst those from storage arrays saw a more moderate growth of +3%. Component availability is largely responsible for HCI revenues since much of the backlog caused by supply issues was cleared in Q3 and Q4.
The storage sector ends 2022 with a comfortable full-year YoY revenue increase of almost +8%.
Whilst it did not match the impressive performance of Q3 2022, the networking sector continued to grow significantly in Q4 with overall revenues increasing by +23.2% YoY. This too was a consequence of the easing of supply chain issues that began in the middle of the year and enabled backlog orders to be fulfilled. On top of this, price increases in 2022 – due to exchange rate changes and the increasing costs of production and logistics – are having a positive effect on the YoY revenue comparison.
Unit sales provide the best evidence for the impact of price increases when you look at the volume of switches, routers and wireless access points sold. In Q3, whilst revenues grew by +43% YoY, the number of appliances sold was up by only +13%; in Q4, revenues were up +23.2% and units down by around −2%. However, this is not the full picture: the product mix also plays a part in determining revenues. In Q3, SMB product sales saw the highest growth and mid-range and high-end sales were also increasing, albeit to a lesser extent. In Q4, by contrast, sales of high-end appliances were up +15%, those of SMB products only +3% higher than the previous year and mid-range appliance sales declined by −10%. The increase of revenues in Q4 was, therefore, also driven by a marked change in the products sold by distributors, which is partly a result of better component availability and slightly decreasing lead times.
Southern Europe led growth in Q4 2022 with revenues in France, Italy and Spain up by +31%, +46% and +48% YoY, respectively. There were also significant gains in the smaller Nordic markets: a +60% revenue increase in Sweden and +80% in Norway. Germany and the UK are lagging behind with single-figure YoY increases for the quarter.
Whilst the switching category is busy recovering from the impact of empty offices and business closures during Covid, it is worth noting the continuing growth of the wireless segment. Digital transformation, workplace changes and the switch to WiFi6 have been the main drivers of an impressive +46.9% YoY revenue growth in 2022.
Full-year revenue growth of +24.6% for enterprise networking is very good news for the industry, and the switching segment in particular, after the challenge of the pandemic. Taking a full-year perspective also shows that differences between Q4 figures across the region are not particularly significant: networking revenues grew between 20% and 30% in all Top 5 European economies during 2022.

Quarterly 3D Printer Revenues Rise, Unit Shipments Slow as Worldwide Markets React to Inflation
full content in research-updates/3d_printing page
Quarterly global Industrial 3D printer shipments see diverging trends
Weaker shipments of polymer systems in Covid-hit Shanghai pull down Global Industrial category totals; metal printer shipments continue to rise however thanks in part to surging demand from aerospace
LONDON, 18 October 2022 – Just as the Industrial* 3D printing industry seemed to have fully recovered from the pandemic and begun to accelerate, reduced domestic China shipments, directly related to regional Covid flareups, pulled-down global shipments of Industrial 3D printer systems in the second quarter of 2022, according to CONTEXT, the IT market intelligence company. Other lingering Covid-induced issues in the west – including continued supply-chain problems and global inflation – also challenged printer system vendors around the world.
full content in research-updates/3d_printing page
Quarterly industrial 3D printer shipments accelerate in US and Western Europe as market remains confident of robust full-year growth
Strong order books keep expectations of global growth over the full year high in spite of Covid-induced slowdowns in China
LONDON, 14 July 2022 – In a total reversal of trends seen during pandemic lockdowns in 2020, shipments of the highest-end 3D printers were on the rise and accelerating in Q1 2022 while shipments of consumer-centric systems were down and decelerating, according to the latest by CONTEXT, the market intelligence company.
full content in research-updates/3d_printing page
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