It’s not just pasta, rice and toilet roll that have been flying off the shelves of late, as tech sales have increased drastically – with Brits looking to equip their home offices with all the gear needed to work effectively during the lockdown.
Consumers have been buying hardware in their droves, with laptops and monitors among the biggest sellers. There has also been a marked increase in bulk purchases, as business owners buy in supplies to keep their employees connected at home.
Elsewhere, many smaller peripherals have also seen their popularity increase – among them headsets and notebooks. Research from Context put headset sales up 38% year-on-year, whilst notebook sales increased by 15%. This should come as no surprise, with video calls also enjoying unprecedented levels of popularity, as people turn to the likes of Microsoft Teams and Zoom to keep up to date with their colleagues.
However, there could be a limit to how much equipment that companies or individuals can lay their hands on before too long. One source (who wanted to remain anonymous) told The Register that stock isn’t being replenished as quickly as it’s being bought – what with manufacturers being forced to close their doors for weeks at a time. The result could be a shortage reaching distributors within the coming months.
That said, demand could drop as companies get their workforce fully equipped, and therefore don’t need any further equipment (at least in the short term). With this scenario, the source admitted: “We might get over it.”
What certainly won’t be in short supply, though, is collaboration software to make it easy for team members to work together, even if they’re geographically distant.
Greg Richey, director of Ingram Micro’s Digital Transformation Solutions, told Channel Futures how businesses now need collaboration applications, security, and other adjacent services “more than ever”. There’s good news, in that the scalability of these options will help business owners who are anxious about the financial implications of the current situation, by ensuring they can utilise the technologies they need, without insurmountable cost barriers.
