The new Worldwide Quarterly Industrial Printer Tracker from International Data Corporation’s (IDC) shows industrial printer and large format printer shipments declined in Q1 2020.
“While shipments and revenues have declined in the large format printer market over the past two years, both 2018 and 2019 were growth years in the industrial inkjet market,” says Tim Greene, research director: hardcopy solutions at IDC. “Large format printer shipments declined 32% worldwide in Q1 2020 as Covid-19 impacted both supply chains and demand cycles, and as the market has shifted towards higher-end solutions.
“The year also got off to a slow start with weak results in the industrial printer segments. As the markets recover IDC expects to see shipment growth for the full year as more companies worldwide adopt smarter and more sustainable supply chains, new signage and graphics applications are developed, and more print service providers seek new revenue opportunities.”
Industrial printer segment highlights for 2019 include:
* The industrial printer market, as defined by IDC, generated $5-billion in hardware revenue to manufacturers worldwide.
* Label & Packaging unit shipments grew 6% year over year in 2019.
* Industrial Textile printer shipments grew nicely in 2019, increasing by more than 11% worldwide year over year.
* Total shipments in the Direct-to-Garment (DTG) segment grew about 2% worldwide year over year in 2019.
* Total shipments in the Direct-to-Shape (DTS) segment grew by about 2,5% worldwide year over year.
The Covid-19 crisis had the greatest impact across the Asia/Pacific region in Q1 2020 with the total value of industrial printer shipments declining 55,9% year over year.
The value of shipments declined 31,5% year over year in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.
The Americas region showed the most resiliency, but shipment value still declined 17,6% in Q1 2020.