European Consumer Tech Spending Drops in Q3

Consumers across western Europe spent less on technology in the third quarter of 2016, according to analyst GfK. It said that technical consumer goods sales dropped 2.4% annually to €49.75 billion compared to the same period last year and that the consumer IT spending fell 8.8% to less than €12.7bn. This meant that, for the first time, IT was overtaken by telecommunications, which rose 5.9% to €13.3 billion. The GfK report tracks spending across 15 countries, with Germany accounting for more than a quarter of the total.