Computing hardware retailers are seeing slower growth – and even negative growth – on the back of the economic slow-down, and the declining demand for PC equipment.<\/p>\n
Online hardware retailer Prophecy<\/a> said that they have not seen any growth from 2011 to 2012. \u201c. In fact, we’ve seen about a 10% – 15% drop in sales,\u201d said Prophesy\u2019s Henk Keuris<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom what we’re hearing from the distributors, many of them are seeing similar drops from 2011 to 2012’s first quarter,\u201d said Keuris.<\/p>\n Keuris said tha,t due to the European financial crisis \u2013 where he expect the full effects to only hit South Africa in mid-2012 \u2013 he is pessimistic about growth.<\/p>\n \u201cI will therefore be content if we can gain the lost growth back this year, or stay where we are at the moment. So, our current levels – 10% to 15% of last year, will be okay for me, or if we can get that 10% – 15% that we lost from last year back, I’ll be happy,\u201d said Keuris.<\/p>\n Esquire<\/a> MD, Mahomed Cassim<\/a> echoes Keuris\u2019 observation, explaining that factors like the current economic situation and the ongoing hard disk drives shortages are bad news for growth.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom 1999 up until 2010 we saw a growth of almost 30% year-on-year, with the exception of 2011, where we saw a growth of only 18%,\u201d said Cassim.<\/p>\n However, Keuris is more bullish on their medium- and long-term growth. \u201cI do expect growth over the next few years, but I think that it’ll be slow for the next year or two, and then pick up, as long as the European financial crisis can be sorted out,\u201d said Keuris.<\/p>\n Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n Esquire taking on the big guns – and winning<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n