The four-day Commart Work aims to draw 1 million visitors at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center.

Gaming is dominating the IT market in the fourth quarter this year, with a 20% share of the total IT market and a large portion of the display at Commart Work 2018, a computer fair where all the major brands showcase their PCs.

Pornchai Jantarasupasang, director of ARIP Plc, the organiser of Commart, said gaming has become the largest portion of the overall market that includes notebooks, personal computers and the DIY market.

The four-day Commart, which started on Thursday and runs until Nov 4 at Queen Sirikit National Convention Center, features Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Asus, Logitech, Razer and Sennheiser trying to capture the market.

Mr Pornchai said the average computer price this year is increasing, especially for gaming PCs, which average 40,000 baht. With new technology upgrades, the average price of gaming PCs is expected keep rising next year.

"We see consumer purchasing power is strong in the last quarter, with instalment payment plans offered by IT brands and banks a factor spurring the market," he said.

Commart Work 2018 is the last IT event of the year and aims to generate some 3 billion baht, up from 2.8 billion from last year.

At the event, PC brands such as HP are also holding e-sport tournaments.

"The PC gaming market is popular this year and we see high potential for mobile gaming next year," said Mr Pornchai.

Commart Work aims to attract around 1 million visitors over four days, up from 800,000 people last year in the same period.

Somyot Chaowalit, chief executive of JIB Computer Group for IT retail, forecast the overall IT market this year to have only 5-6% growth, even though purchasing power is better than last year.

The instalment plans offered by IT brands and banks allow consumers to make buying decisions easily, he said.

"Last year JIB Computer's revenue grew by 18%, but so far we expect our market this year will grow by 12%," said Mr Somyot.

JIB set a target to achieve 10 billion baht of revenue this year, but estimates it will earn only 9.2 billion, he said.

The average bill for IT products this year is 8,800 baht, up from 6,400 baht last year, said Mr Somyot. The price of IT items is increasing because hardware has improved.

JIB is positioned in the middle to high-end market, so pricing is higher than the overall market, he said.

JIB Computer has 145 branches covering 51 provinces and eight MINE gaming shops.

Mr Somyot said this year the company opened fewer JIB shops as it has greater focus on online business.

Revenue from retail shops this year has been only around 700 million baht, and online channels have earned 100 million baht, but online business has grown 35% this year and is expected to be higher next year, he said.