IDC Says Worldwide Printer Market Remains Growth

According to IDC, the global printer market registered shipment of 26.4 million units in the first quarter of 2014, raising 2.1% year-over-year (YoY), which is the third consecutive quarter remarking growth.

In market segments, inkjet represents 58.4% share of overall shipments, but falling 3% compared to the last quarter, while laser devices gained 4% to 38.0% share over the same period. Specifically, monochrome laser products recorded an increase of 2.6% YoY, with 8 million units shipped and capturing 80.1% share of the laser market. Shipments of color laser reached more than 2 million units, up 8.9% YoY and accounting 19.9% share of the total laser market. IDC noted the color laser market has grown for the fourth quarter in a row.

The two biggest regions, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) and Western Europe, marked up 5.5% and 7.1% YoY to 7.7 and 5.4 million units shipped, respectively, said the statement.

HP ranked top with 40.3% market share and 6.5% YoY increase in shipments, by benefiting from the Ink Advantage program for end customers and promotions to channels and end-users. Canon’s shipments declined 7.2% YoY but still continued as the second-ranked vendor, with 18.5% market share. Epson came to the third with 14.3% market share, up 11.1% YoY in shipments, driven by its multifunction printers. Brother held the fourth place with 1.5% YoY growth, accounting for 7.7% market share, followed by Samsung, who dropped 7.3% YoY and achieved 6.0% share. It is notable that Ricoh made the worldwide top 5 list for laser printers for the first time ever, driven by its recent ramp up in color MFPs and “Services-Led Approach” among its channel partners.

“Aligning with IDC’s prediction that 2014 would be a year of growth and sales execution is the fact that ongoing vertical opportunities will be an important target for the hardcopy peripherals vendors. To effectively execute sales in these opportunities, sales reps will need to be deeply educated on that vertical. Common vertical targets are already in place and typically include the traditionally document-intensive healthcare, financial, public sector, and legal markets. One vertical that we expect to hear more about in 2014 is manufacturing,” said Phuong Hang, Program Director, Worldwide Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers.