Demand for laptops in Tier-II cities 36 pc higher than Tier-I: Report

Work From Home (WFH) and virtual classes for students have resulted in increased demand for laptops in India’s Tier-II cities, so much so that it has zoomed past the demand in Tier-I cities, a report by Just Dial says.

The report indicates that demand in Tier-II cities has surged past Tier-I cities by 36 percent with HP, Dell, Asus being the top-three brands in the country. Lenovo, Acer, Apple, MSI, MI, Microsoft, and Avita made up the top-10 most searched laptop brands in the country.

Almost 70 percent of the total demand across India was made up of HP, Dell, and Asus. 

Pan-India, YOY (year-on-year) demand for HP laptops grew by 34 percent, Dell by 10 percent, Asus by 21 percent, Lenovo by 15 percent, MSI by 40 percent, MI by 37 percent, Microsoft by 35 percent, Avita by 40 percent while that for Acer and Apple remained stable. The YOY demand rise for laptops in Tier-I cities was 9 percent while in Tier-II it was 28 percent.

Commenting on the trends, Prasun Kumar, CMO, Just Dial, said: “There has been a demand uptick for laptops ever since offices went into Work From Home (WFH) mode and schools shifted to virtual classes ever since the onset of the pandemic. There was a 20 percent YOY rise in demand for laptops with Tier-II towns and cities generating most of this traction."

In Tier-I cities, HP saw a rise of 30 percent, MSI 60 percent, MI 49 percent, Microsoft 56 percent, Avita 40 percent while that for Dell, Asus, Lenovo, Acer, and Apple remained stable. The top-3 brands HP, Dell, and Asus contributed to almost 59 percent of the overall demand.

Delhi accounted for a third of the demand for HP and Asus and 28 percent of the demand for Dell among Tier-I cities. Mumbai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Bengaluru were the other Tier-I cities that generated maximum demand.

"This indicates a rise in digital adoption in smaller towns and cities when it comes to searching for laptops and computer peripherals. This is also a testament to the fact that even in India’s smaller towns and cities, Just Dial has become the first port of call. We have aggregated a large section of offline retailers of laptops on the platform enhancing their reach at a time when the demand has also largely shifted online.” he added.

Among Tier-II cities, HP saw a YOY rise of 40 percent, Dell 32 percent, Asus 46 percent, Lenovo 32 percent, Acer 9 percent , Apple 11 percent, MSI 30 percent, MI 28 percent, and Microsoft 24 percent.

Chandigarh, Jaipur, Jammu, Patna, Varanasi, Lucknow, Vijayawada, Nagpur, Indore, and Coimbatore were the top-10 Tier-II cities that saw maximum demand for laptops.