Brewer Reveals Impact on Imaging Supplies by COVID-19

Brewer Reveals Impact on Imaging Supplies by COVID-19

With the pandemic shutting down offices around the globe, Actionable Intelligence’s Charlie Brewer (pictured) says it is no surprise the amount of printing had greatly declined in the United States.

“The situation is bad and it could get much worse,” Brewer told participants in his seminar on “The U.S. Home and Office Printing Markets in the Age of COVID-19” held on May 21, 2020.

Brewer outlined the financials that had been shared by the leading OEMs, and all reported drops in revenue.  One had even suffered its worst sales in 16 years.

However, Brewer shared some interesting bright spots and potential opportunities.  In particular, the SOHO market and inkjet have enjoyed a resurgence.  The latter is the medium of the majority of the small household printers that had fallen out of favor but were dusted off when the stay-home orders were issued.

SOHO machines—inkjet and laser—may end up doing double or triple duty, as they became the work printer for Mom or Dad, while they became the school or entertainment tool for the kids.  Brewer sees a shift in favor of these desktop models even after the parents return to work.   As COVID forces social distancing, the community copier will give way to individual desktop laser units.

Brewer said this is good news for those familiar with SOHO.  The printers that line the shelves of the local Office Depot will find homes and are most likely manufactured by HP, Inc., Epson, or Brother.

“Everything old is new again,” he said, explaining that these machines had their heyday before MPS took over, back when printers and supplies were transactional sales.  The aforementioned OEMs, he said, are “well situated in the marketplace, because they have been here before.”

Despite these very limited bright spots, Brewer thinks it will be some time before that market returns to its pre-pandemic vigor if that ever happens.  He foresees a recovery that it is more like the Nike swoosh, with its severe upfront drop, but much longer and less angled recovery.

Established in 2009, Actionable Intelligence is a veteran-owned research firm covering the markets for home and office imaging hardware and the supplies these devices employ. The company hosts the website www.Action-Intell.com and is leading provider of custom research to the hardcopy industry.

Related:

• Market Share of Each Printer OEM Revealed
• 22.5% Decline in Printer Sales Blamed on Supply Chain
• Profits Cut and Forecasts Sharpened by Sharp
• Profits Cut and Forecasts Sharpened by Sharp
• Printer Sales Worse Than Expected in Western Europe
• Ricoh Faces Downturn in Office Printing
• Konica Minolta Also Revises Financial Forecasts
• Income Down but Profits Up for OKI

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