Spending on IT remains firm

12:56 5th August 2008

Spending on IT equipment appears to have defied the credit crunch by growing nearly nine per cent in the first half of 2008, according to one new survey.

The GfK IT Barometer survey, which tracks trends across the IT market, disclosed that more than £5 billion was spent on technology products in the first six months of this year - £400 million more than in the same period in 2007.

Specifically the survey revealed that sales of laptops grew by 24 per cent; corporate sales grew by four per cent and consumer sales jumped 18 per cent.

GfK suggest that these findings indicate that businesses are being more financially cautious than consumers during the current economic climate.

"We were expecting to see a slowdown in consumer IT spending in the first half of 2008, but this has not been the case," said the business group director at GfK, Anthony Norman.

"Consumers have continued to spend their disposable income on IT hardware and software. However, it is noticeable that in the corporate sector many businesses are listening to analysts' predictions and have been careful about their IT spend."

Earlier this year, the Confederation of British Industry predicted that the slowdown in the financial services sector would lead to a decrease in IT spending on IT in this financial year.

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