The worldwide hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market continued its recovery in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13). The 31,7-million unit shipments in 4Q13 represented a year-over-year increase of 2% while shipments for the full year 2013 declined just -1,6%, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker.
Contributing to the overall growth was the positive performance from the laser segment, which grew 4,5% year-over-year in 4Q13 and 3,6% for the full year 2013.
Another factor that contributed to the fourth quarter growth was the strong market activity from three of the top five vendors, most notably HP and Brother. HP has increased its channel support and has become more flexible on pricing and incentives (for example, the HP Rebate program).
Brother launched several products this year that expanded its presence in the monochrome laser space and allowed it to compete like never before in the market. As a result, both Brother and HP enjoyed solid year-over-year growth in 4Q13.
“2013 was a relatively good year for major hardcopy peripherals vendors as most reported a return to some level of growth. IDC anticipates that the recovery will continue at a slow and steady pace in 2014. Effective sales execution will come from having a comprehensive product portfolio, of course, but more important is being well versed in the language of the customer,” says Phuong Hang, program director: Worldwide Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers at IDC.
The two largest market regions, Western Europe and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) saw year-over-year shipment growth of 5,5% and 7,3%, respectively, in 4Q13. APeJ closed out the full year 2013 with 1,5% year-over-year growth while Western Europe had a small year-over-year decline of -0,4%.
Inkjet remains the dominant technology in the overall hardcopy peripherals market with more than 19,6 million units shipped, representing 62% share. Worldwide, inkjet shipments declined -1,1% year-over-year in 4Q13 and -4,9% for the full year 2013. However, the Western Europe inkjet market saw a solid gain of 8.0% year-over-year in 4Q13.
The total laser market experienced its third consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth in 4Q13. With the exception of Canada and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), all other regions experienced year-over-year growth in the quarter. The Middle East & Africa (MEA) led the way with a 31,5% year-over-year gain, followed by APeJ at 10,1% and the United States at 7,5%.
Monochrome laser devices account for 82,3% of the laser market with 8,9 million units shipped in 4Q13, resulting in 5,8% year-over-year growth in 4Q13 and 3,3% growth for the full year 2013. Monochrome laser printers represented 52% of the total monochrome device market while MFPs took up the remaining 48% in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Colour laser shipments grew 9,4% year-over-year to more than 1,9 million units in 4Q13, resulting in 17,7% share of the total laser market in the quarter. This is the third quarter in a row where the colour laser segment showed positive year-over-year growth, which contributed to a 5,3% year-over-year increase for the full year 2013. Colour laser MFP made up 60% of the total colour laser segment in the fourth quarter.
HP dominated the market in 4Q13 with more than 12,6 million units shipped, the highest quarterly shipment total since the last quarter of 2011. The vendor grew 5,4% year-over-year and gained approximately 2 points to nearly 40% share in the total worldwide market in 4Q13.
HP had year-over-year growth in five out eight regional markets during the quarter. The vendor closed out 2013 on a positive note, posting 0,9% year-over-year for the full year and outperforming the market average by more than 2 points.
Canon remained the number 2 vendor in 4Q13 with shipments of more than 6,5 million units and 20,6% share in the overall hardcopy peripherals market. Although the vendor experienced a decline of -6,2% year-over-year and lost 2 points of market share compared to a year ago, it produced year-over-year gains in three out of eight regional markets (Western Europe, Canada, and the US).
Despite its year-over-year decline in the last quarter of the year, Canon managed to finish the full year 2013 with a 0,4% year-over-year increase in total shipments.
Epson held the third place ranking with 4,9 million units shipped and 8,6% year-over-year growth in 4Q13, resulting in 15,4% share, up a point from a year ago. The vendor finished the full year 2013 with a decline of -7,7% year-over-year.
Epson witnessed year-over-year growth in five out of eight regional markets during 4Q13. Western Europe and the US were Epson’s best performing regions during the last quarter of the year, with 24% and 19% year-over-year growth, respectively.
Brother was the fourth ranked vendor in the worldwide hardcopy market with 7,5% share and nearly 2,4 million units shipped. The vendor grew 12.0% year-over-year, the best results among the top 5 vendors, due to stronger growth in the laser segment (16,7% year-over-year growth vs. 6,8% for inkjet).
The vendor enjoyed gains in all regions except for Latin America, where most vendors faced difficult business conditions in Argentina and Venezuela. Brother completed the full year 2013 with 8,4% year-over-year growth, making it the best performing vendor among the top 5 in 2013.
Samsung rounded out the top 5 vendors in the total hardcopy peripherals market with more than 1,3 million units shipped last quarter of 2013. The vendor declined -8,9% year-over-year in 4Q13, resulting in 4,1% market share, down one half point from a year ago.
Year-over-year gains in four out of eight regional markets (APeJ, Canada, MEA, and the US) were not enough to offset year-over-year losses in the other three regions (CEE, Latin America, and Western Europe). The vendor closed out the full year 2013 with a year-over-year decline of -3,5%.