Second shift: Russians have become less likely to buy new gadgets for school
Russians have become more likely to buy used gadgets for children, market participants and experts told Izvestia. At the same time, sales of new equipment on the eve of the school year this season decreased by 20% compared to last year, and in some categories the drop reached 50%. Sellers attribute this to rising prices for electronics, the high cost of borrowed funds and the almost complete absence of discounts.
How has the demand for gadgets changed by the beginning of the school year
This was especially noticeable on smartphones and laptops: their sales decreased by about 20% compared to last year, Peter Gorbey, director of the computer peripherals department at Marvel Distribution, told Izvestia. Experts cite a noticeable increase in prices for new equipment as one of the reasons.
— Laptops have risen in price by 30-35%, smartphones — by 15-20%. Entry-level models are increasing the most in price. Manufacturers have so far managed to keep the cost of more expensive devices down or increase it slightly," the expert noted.
In such circumstances, parents began to take a more rational approach to shopping. Technology is no longer perceived as an obligatory part of the annual "school set": if an old smartphone copes with educational tasks, it can be left to the child for another year, explained Peter Gorbey.
Against this background, prices in the "gray" market, including used and refurbished laptops and PCs, are becoming more attractive for many families, according to Svyaz.ON.
— If we talk about traditionally "school" laptops, which are relatively inexpensive and not very productive, then the increase in the cost of components, especially memory, is directly reflected in their retail price. Manufacturers in this segment do not have many opportunities to restrain prices due to the rise in prices of components, experts noted.
At the same time, retailers cannot compensate for the price increase with promotions and discounts: the high rate limits the possibilities for additional financing, and there are fewer and fewer available funds. Banks and other financial partners have a similar situation, Svyaz.ON added.
The most noticeable decrease in demand is observed in the segment of affordable laptops costing up to 50 thousand rubles. According to Izvestia's source in the electronics market, their sales decreased by 55.9% in units and by 53% in monetary terms year-on-year. In the segment of smartphones up to 30 thousand rubles, the drop was less significant — by 14.1% and 8.3%, respectively.
According to him, the average cost of devices increased by 6.7%. At the same time, users began to use existing gadgets for longer and take a closer look at choosing new ones, comparing specifications and prices. The transition from the cheapest models to more versatile ones capable of solving a wide range of tasks is also noticeable in the segment of equipment for studies, the Izvestia interlocutor added.
In such a situation, it is not surprising that demand for used smartphones and laptops has roughly doubled in the pre-school season, said Eldar Murtazin, a leading analyst at Mobile Research Group. According to him, the decline in interest in electronics before the start of the school year in Russia is being recorded for the first time: in August, there was no usual surge in sales compared to June and July.
The expert attributes this to an increase in the price of equipment against the background of the intense global demand for components for AI systems. In Russia, demand for it has decreased due to expensive loans and a general desire to save money. An additional factor was the almost complete absence of discounts, Murtazin added.
Sales declined the most in the laptop segment, said Oleg Yablokov, NTI wireless expert. Wearable devices are in second place: in the first half of the year, their sales decreased by about 15%. Next are smartphones.
— At the same time, there is no general trend. Tablet sales increased by 3%, and headphones by 28% in the first quarter," Oleg Yablokov said.
At the same time, the interest of buyers in the sale is growing. Avito reported that sales of laptops by hand increased by 18% over the year, and smartphones by 11%.
In the smartphone segment, Apple models showed the most noticeable dynamics: sales of the iPhone 16 Pro increased 2.1 times, and the iPhone 16 Pro Max doubled. Demand also increased for vivo (+83%), iPhone 15 (+48%), Google and iPhone 15 Pro (+43% each). Honor (+41%), Huawei (+36%), Dell (+24%) and MSI (+23%) are the leaders among laptops, experts added.
What kind of equipment is chosen today
According to Avito, parents most often buy or plan to purchase a smartphone for a child for school — 42% of respondents named it. This is followed by laptops (30%) and tablets (27%).
The main selection criteria are the price—quality ratio (41%), reliability (38%) and device characteristics (33%). On average, parents are willing to spend 28 thousand rubles on preparing one child for school, according to the company's materials.
The equipment has become too expensive for an impulsive replacement, said Peter Gorbey. Smartphones and laptops are now increasingly used for three to five years. If the old device is still working, at current prices, parents prefer not to rush to purchase. Because of the expensive loans, it is difficult to purchase new equipment, especially if you need to spend money on uniforms, shoes, office supplies and other goods at the same time before school.
According to Oleg Yablokov, the main reasons for the decline in sales are the longer use of already purchased devices, saturation of the market after several waves of updates and the cautious approach of buyers to large expenses. Additional impacts include the high cost of loans, increased memory costs, and a reduction in the number of available configurations. At the same time, part of the demand goes to marketplaces, to the segment of refurbished equipment, to the secondary market and foreign sites, so the statistics of individual networks may show a deeper drop than the market as a whole, he noted.
People are trying to save money and are increasingly choosing used devices, says Denis Kuskov, CEO of TelecomDaily. In his opinion, this trend will continue at least until the end of the year. The release of the new iPhone may temporarily support Apple's sales, but in general, according to the expert, there are no noticeable prerequisites for market recovery yet.
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