IDC: IT Distribution Revenues Return to Growth in Q4

Fourth quarter distributor revenues grew 2.3% year-over-year, landing at $21.4 billion, but this solid end to the year was not enough to outweigh weaker sales in earlier quarters, and 2024 ended down 1.1% year-over-year, according to IDC. Product groups driving growth included software coming in at 9.7% year-over-year, and personal computing which grew 16.2% year-over-year. The performance in these categories was enough to offset a year-over-year decline in Services of -5.5% and the anticipated decline in Network Infrastructure of -6.0% year-over-year.

Personal Computing returned to normal distributor revenue levels in 2024 after a significant contraction in 2023. The $3.75 billion in sales recorded in Q4 continues to be fueled by AI PC configurations, which grew 141% year-over-year.

Software sales in Q4 came in at $4.55 billion. The two largest categories, Security Software and Storage Software, which account for over 40% of software sales, grew at 6.2% and 13.4% year-over-year, respectively. But it was the third largest software category, Physical and Virtual Computing Software, that showed the most growth, coming in at 82.1% year-over-year.

The related IDC trackers used in this report are built on the exclusive partnership between IDC and the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC). They measure market trends in the U.S. and Canada based on sales data collected weekly from various distributors in North America representing more than 1,000 brands. This data is mapped to IDC’s taxonomy with over 200 categories organized into 13 distinct product groups with detailed product attributes across categories.

Channel Impact^®
The numbers represent significant trends across the marketplace, including mid-market and below.