Printer sales down again in Q3 2016,
despite revenue gains in Western Europe
Worldwide hardcopy
peripherals (HCP) shipments
declined 3% to 25 million
units in the third quarter
of 2016 (3Q16), according
to the International Data
Corporation (IDC)
Worldwide
Quarterly Hardcopy
Peripherals Tracker
.
Only one vendor in the
top five, Epson, experienced
positive year-over-year unit
growth worldwide (12.2%). IDC
says this was driven by strong
performances in Asia/Pacific
(excluding Japan), Western
Europe and the U.S.
Shipments by HP, Canon,
Brother and Samsung were
down -4.7%, -7.1%, -6.4% and
-20.6% respectively.
Despite a year-on-year
fall in sales, there were
growth areas, notably the
contractual segment, up
6.1% year-on-year in 3Q16
due to the popularity of
managed print services.
Western Europe
The Western European
printer and multifunction
(MFP) market fared better
than the worldwide market.
While the market declined in
unit terms (-1.4% compared to
-3% globally), revenues for the
quarter were 3% higher.
IDC attributes the stronger
performance in Western Europe
to rising sales of laser devices,
which increased by 1.9%
year-over-year, following five
quarters of negative growth.
Laser revenue increased more
than volume, thanks to a 1.2%
increase in average selling
prices (ASPs) in 3Q16.
For the first time since
1Q13, business inkjet
shipments suffered a major
decline, falling 13.1%.
UK sales
The UK experienced another
poor quarter with a greater
decline than the Western
European market as a whole
(-5.3% vs. -1.4%). Both laser
and inkjet markets were
down, with business inkjets
performing below the regional
average, with an 18.4%
decrease. On a positive note,
there was very strong growth
in A3 inkjet printers (+66%)
and A4 laser MFPs (+21.2%).
Dell has revealed to
PrintIT
that falling print volumes were
instrumental in its decision to
pull out of the European print
market. In a statement, it
said: “Following a review, Dell
is heading in a new direction
to strategically realign the
Imaging business. This
year, we expect a continued
decline in the printing
industry, driven by less printed
pages and consequently less
printer hardware. The install
base of printers has continued
to decline across the industry,
impacting consumables
revenue and margin for us and
our competitors.
“As a result, we have taken
a detailed look at our global
Imaging business and strategy
and decided to scale down our
printer hardware business in
EMEA and APJ. As a company,
we will focus our resources
on driving our business in
North America, where we are
in an established leadership
position.
“We expect to complete the
transition by the end of 2016.
We will work with customers on
delivery schedules for existing
orders and any other immediate
requirements they may have.
Our customers remain very
important to us, and we will
continue to provide support and
repairs for existing customers,
as well as continuing to supply
toners and spares.”
Print management software
provider ThinPrint warns that
businesses are going down
the wrong path to achieve
high availability when printing.
In a survey of 1,500
attendees at VMworld Las
Vegas and Barcelona, 68%
expressed a belief that high
availability when printing
is guaranteed solely by
virtualising print servers.
However, ThinPrint points
out that virtualising print
servers mainly protects
against hardware or virtual
server failures and that far
more common print-specific
problems, such as faulty
printer drivers or driver
incompatibility, are not solved
by virtualisation alone.
In the survey, 49% said that
high availability is required for
printing in their companies.
More than half (58%) of
respondents have already
virtualised their print servers,
with an additional 15% planning
to do so in the near future. Of
these, 50% did so/plan to do
so to achieve high availability
or easier maintenance.
BULLETIN
Businesses going down wrong path
warns ThinPrint
A4 laser MFPs were one of
the few bright spots in the UK
printer market in Q3 2016.
Photo shows the i-SENSYS
MF249dw, one of six new
mono MFPs introduced by
Canon to meet the needs of
small businesses and home
workers. Find out more at
Dell withdraws from UK print market
