Western Europe Sees Growth in Laser MFP Sales

Context World, a UK-based IT market research company, reported the unit sales of laser multi-function printers (MFPs) in Western Europe in 2013 rose 8% year-on-year (YOY), though the overall printer market dropped 4% YOY.

The unit sales of inkjet MFPs, laser single-function printers and inkjet single-function MFP fell 3%, 9% and 12% YOY respectively, said the company.

Canon and Brother showed 28% and 15% YOY growth in overall printer distribution sales in 2013. OKI, Ricoh and Dell also saw double-digit growth. Kyocera and Xerox remained stable. But HP and Samsung declined 6% and 5% YOY respectively.

In term of regions, Belgium showed the largest growth of 8% compared to 2012, followed by France and Ireland, with growth of 5% and 1% respectively. Switzerland stayed flat. However, Italy, Germany, UK and Austria cut back 3%, 5%, 8% and 10% respectively.

“The growth in France was driven mainly by the Laser MFP category, where Samsung recorded a 13% increase in sales driven by color  printers in this segment”, said Zivile Brazdziunaite, Imaging Market Analyst at CONTEXT.“Demand for Samsung’s A3 and A4 MFPs that feature the web-based XOA (extensible Open Architecture) Embedded open  platform, which allows for increased productivity and savings in operational costs, further strengthened the company’s position  in the business market.”