Study: IT Product Sales Accelerated in Q1 2022 with 13.1% Growth Through Distribution

Total IT product revenue reported by members of the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC) approached $18.9 billion in the first quarter of 2022. The year-over-year increase of 13.1% was up significantly from 7.9% growth in all of 2021. The total was also the third highest overall behind only the fourth quarters of 2020 and 2021 as reported in the North America Weekly Distribution Tracker from the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Despite the upward trend for the quarter, growth slowed from almost 18.9% in January to 8.1 in March, although each month still bested the 2021 growth rate, and the last week of March was the largest on record. AV, Security, and Consumer Electronics products led growth, each increasing more than 24% from the prior year. Imaging, Peripherals & Accessories, and Personal Computing were the slowest categories in 1Q22, growing in single digits from the prior year with growth slowing from pandemic recovery highs. Other categories all grew in double digits for the quarter.

“Despite continuing logistics, economic and political headwinds, as well as more difficult comparisons to last year, North American IT sales through tier one distribution remained strong in the first quarter,” said Ruth Flynn, director of operations for IDC Tracker & Data Products. “Throughout the pandemic consumers and businesses have been reminded of the value of tech investments and continue to prioritize IT purchases.”

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.

Channel Impact^®
The data point to a level of success achieved by top tier distributors seeking new ways to add value in a substantially cloud-based environment.