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IDC in the US has just released some headline data from its Beyond-the-Box survey. This survey tries to assess the size of the PC 'basket', while making a distinction between consumers and small businesses.

Within the first 12 months of buying a PC, a US consumer will spend an average of $0.87 on additional PC-related purchases for every $1.00 spent on a PC. More than 50% of the survey respondents buy these accessories in retail stores at the time of purchase, while a further 20% or so will buy from retailers' online web-shops.

For small businesses, more than 50% of their accessories budget is spent at the time of purchasing a PC, while a further 26% of their budget is spent within the next three months. Small businesses [defined by IDC as those with less than 100 employees] spend an average of $284 on accessories and such like for each PC they buy.

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HP's Social Computing Lab has found an internal customer. Amongst other things, their research has found that the lengthy lists of accessories that often appear close to the check-out on eCommerce sites aren't performing. Web shoppers simply stop paying attention over time.

So, earlier this year, HP ditched its long lists of add-ons, replacing them with more precise recommendations based on the models created by the Social Computing Lab. According to a recent article in Business Week, the result has been a 30% increase in customers who paired products when they checked out of HP's 'Home and Home Office' web shop.