IT product revenue grew 7.2% through top-tier distribution

Total IT product revenue reported by members of the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC), which represents nearly 90% of total products sold through the 2-tier channel in North America, reached a new peak of more than $70 billion in 2021. 2-tier distribution refers to products sold from a manufacturer to a distributor (tier 1), who generally sells to another channel (e.g. retailer or value-added reseller as tier 2) before the product is sold to a user. Revenue growth for these top-tier (tier 1) distributors was up 7.2% year over year in 2021 following a 2% increase in 2020, despite the onset of the pandemic, and 5% in 2019. These results were reported in the first version of the North America Weekly Distribution Tracker from International Data Corporation (IDC).

On a monthly basis, April, May, and June 2021 saw the largest year-over-year growth, respectively, as the market rebounded from the initial disruption from COVID-19. August through December 2021 continued the recovery with strong gains on top of already strong 2020 revenues. December 2021 revenues were the highest on record for a single month at almost $7.5 billion, followed by December 2020 at $7.1 billion, December 2018 at $6.5 billion, and October 2021 at almost $6.5 billion.

Personal Computing had the largest share of revenue with 24% in 2021, following 12% growth in each of the past three years led by gains in notebooks and workstations. Other products with substantial growth in 2021 include: video capture devices; consumer electronics, led by mobile phones; components, such as graphics and other expansion cards; and PC monitors and consumer displays.

IDC’s North America Weekly Distribution Tracker is built on the exclusive partnership between IDC and the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC) and provides the industry’s most comprehensive view of technology distribution data and market trends in the U.S. and Canada. The data in this Tracker is actual sales data collected weekly from sales receipts across the largest distributors in North America for more than 1,700 brands over several years. This data is mapped to IDC’s taxonomy with nearly 200 categories organized into 14 distinct product groups with detailed product attributes across categories.

“The frequency, depth, and precision of data in this Tracker is an invaluable resource for any company competing in these markets,” said Ruth Flynn, director of operations, on IDC’s Data & Analytics team. “As we continue to navigate changing business dynamics through the pandemic, this Tracker provides essential data about which products and companies are growing and enables IT companies and their category manager and channel teams to respond rapidly to the competitive landscape.”

CT Bureau