Port Washington, NY (Sept. 9, 2019) — According to The NPD Group’s B2B Distributor and Reseller Tracking Service, the U.S. B2B technology market saw 4 percent dollar growth during the first half of 2019 compared to first half 2018, with sales reaching nearly $45 billion. During this timeframe, software sales experienced 8 percent growth, now making up 26 percent of industry sales, while hardware dollar sales saw a 3 percent increase¹.

In software, the importance of security is continuing to drive sales gains in the first half of 2019 with increases in the following security software categories: security information & event management (+30 percent), identity & access management (+20 percent), and gateway & firewall (+15 percent). In non-security software, cloud infrastructure & platform-as-a-service saw the most notable growth up 37 percent, as firms leverage the cloud for office productivity and back-up and recovery – a trend we expect will continue.

In hardware, IT systems, which include PCs, storage, and servers, grew 7 percent fueled in part by the education buying season and a strong Windows 10 refresh cycle. The PC market saw growth with year-over-year dollar sales gains in notebooks and tablets. In storage, hyperconverged systems and all-flash array unit sales grew 35 percent and 60 percent respectively during the period. This was a result of declining average selling prices propelling volume, which is expected to continue as these segments are key to hybrid cloud strategies.

“While software is maintaining impressive growth in the channel, we expect hardware sales to remain healthy as a result of digital transformation and expanding networks,” said Michael Diamond, director, industry analysis, B2B Technology for The NPD Group. “As companies seek to digitally transform themselves to drive internal productivity improvements coupled with enhanced customer centricity, the partner community must continue to transform itself into more consultative models with deep vertical and departmental expertise.”

NPD is the only U.S. source for tracking sales-out data in the B2B technology channel, with data on more than 2,000 manufacturers from distributors and resellers, to show what IT products are selling, where, to whom and at what price.

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About The NPD Group Inc.
NPD offers data, industry expertise, and prescriptive analytics to help our clients grow their businesses in a changing world. Over 2000 companies worldwide rely on us to help them measure, predict, and improve performance across all channels, including brick-and-mortar and e-commerce. We have offices in 27 cities worldwide, with operations spanning the Americas, Europe, and APAC. Practice areas include apparel, appliances, automotive, beauty, books, B2B technology, consumer technology, e-commerce, fashion accessories, food consumption, foodservice, footwear, home, juvenile products, media entertainment, mobile, office supplies, retail, sports, toys, travel retail, video games, and watches / jewelry.

¹ The NPD Group, Inc., U.S. B2B Distributor Track and Reseller Tracking service, Jan.-June 2019 vs. Jan.-June 2018. Sales are adjusted for 5wk Jan. 2018 vs. 4wk Jan. 2019.