Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Asia-Pacific's retail sector are likely to invest up to 240 million US dollars in Information Technology (IT) this year, a market intelligence firm said in a published report on Apil 16.
Key countries which are expected to drive the spending are Australia, China, India, South Korea and Taiwan, said Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, with the total up 14 per cent from 2006.
"While retail SME IT spending in emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam is set to grow more than 15 per cent year-on-year in 2007, spending in mature markets such as Australia and Singapore will grow less than 10 per cent," The Business Times quoted Nishant Dave, AMI's research director for the region, as saying.
The US-based AMI defines SMEs as commercial enterprises with under 1,000 employees. It further breaks them into small businesses with up to 99 employees and medium businesses from 100 to 999 employees.
Nearly 150,000 new retail SMEs in the region excluding Japan are planning to invest in basic personal computer infrastructure this year, the AMI report said.
"Both types of companies will face the disruptive threat to their business models from larger retailers which will compel them to re-invent themselves using IT as a competitive differentiator," Dave said.
Storage and security will be the fastest growing IT spending categories among retail mid-market companies, growing more than 20 per cent year-on-year.
-DPA