Speaking about the prospects of the monitor market in 2019, analysts did not expect serious breakthroughs or changes in the market conditions. Both market participants and experts believed that growth would be 5-10% at best. And above all, due to more expensive and "sophisticated" devices.
It can be said that the market as a whole met the participants' expectations both in qualitative and quantitative terms. According to ITResearch, for the entire 2019, 3.53 million monitors worth $ 589.5 million were sold in Russia. The market grew by 7.1% in units and by 9% in money, which was associated with a combination of several factors: going to large diagonals and curved screens, active sales of gaming, as well as 2K and 4K monitors, and strengthening the corporate segment. According to ITResearch Deputy Director Vasily Mochar, the Russian monitor market continued to be extremely dependent on “replacement” sales, which provided at least 95% of shipments.
“In 2019, the AOC brand took the lead, and Acer and Philips also entered the top three. They accounted for a total of approximately 39%. Such a low level of consolidation shows a significant intensity of competition in the market," says Vasily Mochar. - At the same time, Samsung, the long-term leader in the Russian market of monitors, was in fourth place. Primarily due to its "reckless policy”, the company completely left the market of small diagonals and focused on curved screens. This has a good effect on profitability, but is fraught with a loss of market share, especially when retail is weak and when there is simply nothing to participate in many tenders.”
At the same time, deliveries through the distribution channel, according to CONTEXT, fell in rubles by 20% compared to 2018. Such a huge difference in numbers is most likely because some vendors' direct deliveries to federal retail chains are not only comparable, but also exceed deliveries through the distribution channel. Also, direct shipments to corporate clients occupied a significant share in the Russian market.
Tatyana Skokova, Director of the Broadline Distribution Division at MERLION: “The growth was due to two factors: an increase in the total share of 24? and 27?+ monitors in units (over 60% of sales) and an increase in the share of gaming products to 6% in pieces and up to 10% in monetary terms. The active B2B segment, whose share, according to various estimates, ranges from 40% to 50% in individual quarters, also positively affected the ruble market volume.”
According to Andrei Karakashev, regional director of MMD Russia (Philips & AOC Monitors and Displays), both quantitative and qualitative forecasts for 2019 were fully justified: the market grew by 5% in units and by 7% in money: “Nevertheless, the rapid growth of 4K monitors, which many market participants were waiting for, has not yet happened. And I doubt that it will happen in 2020. Yes, diagonal 24" has finally become the new mainstream, and the share of monitors of smaller diagonals will continue to decline, although it will remain a prominent part of the market." The year was successful for MMD Russia, the combined share of both Philips + AOC brands has grown markedly, and the AOS brand was the first in its history to achieve first place in market share.
According to Grigory Gubankov, head of video electronics at Samsung Electronics, sales of monitors in the lower price segment (up to 5 thousand rubles) decreased by almost a third: "Over the eight months of 2019, the market showed growth of 15% in money terms and 5% in units compared to the same period of 2018, the average cost of a monitor increased by 10% and amounted to approximately 11 thousand rubles. One of the reasons is the growth of gaming monitors, whose sales for the indicated period grew by almost 90%, and the share of this segment exceeded 10% in the demand structure, providing 20% of the turnover in rubles. Demand has also increased for monitors of large diagonals and “non-standard” 21: 9 and 32: 9 formats. Moreover, many models support the Picture-by-Picture function, which divides the screen in half while simultaneously outputting a signal from two sources, and the Picture-in-Picture function, which displays one image on top of the other."
Ilya Fabrichnov, retail sales manager, monitor and personal TV department, LG Electronics Rus, says his company has already refused to supply monitors less than 22 inches, focusing on margin segments from 24? and above. The company has singled gaming monitors into a separate line, UltraGear. In addition, it continues to focus on the UltraWide segment (monitors with a side ratio of 21: 9).
“In 2019, the role of corporate procurement was strengthened thanks to the active replacement of the fleet of devices from partners. Importantly, the main category here was 24" monitors, gradually replacing 22? ones", - says Ilya Fabrichnov.
In addition to competent work with the channel, HP growth drivers include, according to the CEO of HP Inc. in Russia, Pavel Anokhin, such factors as the cheapening of technology (including the cost of IPS matrices), which made monitors 24-27? and larger more accessible. Also, an extensive portfolio of devices - consumer, gaming, commercial (including curved and wide-format models) - played its role.
“All expectations from the monitor market in 2019 were largely justified due to the general stability in the global and Russian economies and the absence of external factors that could seriously affect the global market environment,” says Dell Technologies Russia and Software Sales Manager for Russia Pavel Ruzin.“The forecast on the further absorption of the small diagonals segment on the part of devices from 23.8” and above was also justified. These monitors firmly occupied the niche of the corporate standard in the B2B segment, their specific share is almost close to 50% of the total market. The use of multiple displays at the same time for more productive work in a multi-tasking environment, or the use of super wide format monitors that allow you to work with multiple windows and applications at the same time, is becoming more and more popular.”
According to Pavel Ruzin’s estimates, “growing competition and production volumes” took 2K and 4K devices from a niche segment to a more massive one: “Qualitative market growth is also observed due to the development of the IT industry: outdated VGA/DVI-D interfaces are being rapidly replaced with more modern and productive ones, such as Display Port, USB Type-C, Thunderbolt. The updated base of PCs and laptops stimulates the corporate and retail environment to think about updating the fleet of monitors, many of which are simply morally and technically outdated.”
According to the marketing director of the ViewSonic representative office in Russia and the CIS, Maria Solovyeva, the growth in the monitor market “does not justify the estimates of some pessimists about the gradual crowding out of monitors by other devices, primarily laptops": "In a qualitative sense, the market situation also fit into the forecasting framework: a stable trend towards large diagonals, the development of a segment of devices with high resolution, interest from all market participants in the gaming segment.”
Pavel Gudtsov, manager of the Lenovo commercial monitors segment, names three key trends in the commercial monitors market in 2019. The first is the increase in the share of high-resolution solutions. According to Lenovo, the number of such monitors has more than doubled. The second trend is the growing segment of monitors with built-in audio and video communications. In 2019, this segment grew 3.5 times. The third trend is the growth of the segment of monitors that connect via USB type C; this direction has grown by more than 2.5 times.
Assessing the trends in the segment of user monitors, the manager of Lenovo user monitor segments Fedor Khomyuk noted, among others, “the growth of technologies aimed at reducing vision fatigue while using the monitor - Low Blue Light and others": "The acquisition of a monitor with such technology is a direct investment in productivity and health. Also, the approach to the design of monitors has changed a lot - manufacturers are trying to move away from the usual plastic and use more expensive, high-quality, and aesthetic materials. The design of monitors takes on a new meaning and carries a certain brand concept."
Forecasts and adjustments
No one knows what awaits the monitor market (however, like all other markets) in 2020. Experts and market participants believe that all preliminary forecasts can be considered irrelevant.
“Asian factories managed to overcome difficulties with production and supply chains within a 3-5-week lag, so this factor will not affect annual performance," said Tatyana Skokova. - We expect that the demand in ruble terms in 2020 will at best be at the level of last year. In units, in an optimistic version, the decrease will be about 5%. However, growth will slow down in the segment of 27' + diagonals and productive gaming systems. Probably, due to problems with deliveries from China, the growth in the share of manufacturers having production in the Russian Federation will be visible in the first half of the year. In the light of recent events (an active transition to remote work), we expect the growth of monitor sales in the coming months. Now there is a significant increase in demand for laptops, but those who have not previously worked remotely will soon find it more convenient to work with a large screen and buy a monitor as an external device to the laptop.”
But in the opinion of Vasily Mochar, laptops are more in demand “in the distance”: “Therefore, monitors, despite the huge installed base, which is being updated at the usual time, are not immune from a strong fall in 2020. Instead of the 10% growth planned earlier, the most probable at the moment is the market reduction to 2.5 million devices, that is, up to 30%."
In general, no matter what, life goes on. At the end of March, NEC and Sharp agreed to create a joint venture that "will allow both companies to develop their strengths and meet the needs for visualization tools of their customers around the world."
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