One quarter of SMBs buy PCs from retailers

Around one quarter of small and medium sized businesses in the UK (with five to 24 staff) buy PCs from retailers including superstores and etailers.

Data from Microsoft also shows that around two fifths of micro businesses (with one to five staff) purchase their computers from retailers.

The findings were revealed by Michael Hartmann, Microsoft’s General Manager for Small and Medium Business, as part of the R2B (Retail-to-Business) Summit at Distree EMEA 2014 earlier this month. 

More than 800 SMBs took part in the survey and answered questions about their IT spending habits over the past two years.

For self-employed one-person businesses, 38 per cent bought PCs from retailers and superstores, while 29 per cent bought from online-only retailers, and 24 per cent bought from specialist B2B resellers.

For small businesses with two to four members of staff, 42 per cent bought from PC retailers, 29 per cent from etailers and 26 per cent from resellers.

For SMBs with five to 24 staff, 19 per cent bought from retailers, 25 per cent from etailers and 38 per cent from resellers.

Adam Simon from analyst Context previously told PCR that High Street retailers will end up becoming showrooms if they don’t target businesses.

Here’s some slides from Microsoft’s presentation: