2013 first quarter PC shipments suffered the steepest
decline yet as consumers chose smartphones and tablets over PCs. However, while
consumers flock to other devices, the professional PC market, which accounts for
half of overall PC shipments, continues to grow.
Overall, quarterly PC shipments fell 11.2% based on Gartner
data. While HP still held on to the top spot, the number of its shipments fell
24%.Dell, the third largest OEM saw its
PC shipments decline 11.2% and Acer’s declined 29.3%. Lenovo, however, saw
shipments increase 0.1% for the quarter. Not much of an increase, true, but it
was the best performer during first quarter and will likely overtake HP’s
number one spot soon.
While HP and Dell are working on reinventing their business
strategy, Lenovo has focused on the PC market in emerging markets, in
particular China and Brazil. In China, the company has a 40% share of the PC
market whereas in Brazil it has acquired CCE, a Brazilian computer maker as well
as invested in a manufacturing facility within the country.
Like its competitors, Lenovo realizes the shift from PCs and
has also added smartphones in its product portfolio. It is the second largest
selling brand of smartphones in China market, surpassing Apple. The company is
taking a similar approach it has taken with PCs and is focusing on emerging
markets such as Russia, Indonesia, India, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Lenovo credits its supply chain as part of its success. It
differs from other major OEMs in the fact that it is a hybrid supply chain,
meaning up to one-third of its products are manufactured in-house and the
remaining is outsourced. Lenovo has about 8 in-house plants and 24 outsourced
sites in China, Europe and South America. The company believes this supply
chain model helps in producing innovative products and getting these products
to market quicker. Also, by keeping part of the production in-house, it enables
greater speed and flexibility in shifting its product mix in order to mitigate
potential supply chain risk.
Evidently Lenovo is benefitting financially as a result of
this supply chain model and focused business strategy. For the April to
September 2012 time period, revenue was up 21.7% compared to same period in
2011 while gross profit was up 19.1% for the same period. In comparison, HP
suffered declines in both revenue and profit for each quarter throughout 2012.
