CMR Releases India Monthly A4 Printer Market Review for 2Q2013

According to CMR’s India Monthly A4 Printer Market Review for the second quarter (April-June) of 2013, India recorded shipments of 745, 000 A4 printers in this period.

CMR reported that single function printers decreased from 49% to 44% in the overall India A4 printer market. HP maintained its lead with a 47% share in sales, while Canon ranked second with its 20% and Epson ranked third with 13% in 2Q2013.

In 2Q2013, Inkjet multifunction printers gained a 5% growth in sales compared to the same quarter of the previous year. HP also leads in this sector with a 52% units share, followed by Canon with 23% and Epson with 22%.

Laser A4 printer market grew by 6% in 2Q2013 compared with the year-ago period. In the overall laser sector, laser single function printers declined by 14%, while Laser multi-function printers grew by 38% in 2Q 2013 year-over-year. HP grasped a 51% units share. Canon and Samsung seized the second and third place.

The Dot Matrix Printers (DMPs) sector market suffered the most drastic decline of 28% in 2Q 2013, compared to 2Q 2012. Epson came out the first with a 53% unit shipments share.

Sumanta Mukherjee, Lead Analyst, CMR InfoTech and Channels Practices, said, “These numbers point to the trend of increasing demand for multi-function printers amongst customers. With vendors like Ricoh, Konica Minolta, Brother and Pantum launching new models and pursuing aggressive promotional campaigns, the laser multi function printer segment is expected to grow over time.”

Maninder Singh, Analyst, CMR InfoTech and Channels Practices, commented on the drastic decline in shipments of single function A4 printers, “For just a little more room on the user’s desk, multi-function printer-copier-scanners do much more than simply print documents. Thus, demand for multi-function printers has increased over time. The price differential between Single Function Printers and Multi-function Printers has also become progressively narrower, influencing a shift in the preference of both the consumer as well as the enterprise segment towards the multi-function category.”

Moreover, Maninder noted that rupee depreciation is a challenge for marketers which will put pressure on vendors to increase prices. Plus, the situation has already forced vendors like HP and Canon to increase their prices by 5% in 2Q (April-June) 2013. “Although the Rupee seems to be temporarily resisting the slide against the Dollar, the existing differential itself may be large enough to force OEMs to raise prices, thereby impacting sales to consumers as well as the corporate segment”, Maninder concluded.