After several quarters of notable decline, the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market showed encouraging signs of recovery in the second quarter of 2013 (2Q13).
According to the latest data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, the market experienced its smallest year-over-year decline in unit shipments (-1,8%) since the fourth quarter of 2011.
The 26,1-million units shipped in 2Q13 suggest a relatively stable hardware market opportunity. In addition, IDC quantified the total 2Q13 market value at $13,8-billion, which is a decline of just -1,7% year over year.
Underlying this market stability, 2Q13 marks the first quarter since the fourth quarter of 2010 where the two largest markets, the US and Western Europe, both saw positive year-over-year growth in unit shipments, 1,4% and 3,9%, respectively.
While the total worldwide hardcopy peripherals market experienced a small decline in 2Q13, IDC is optimistic about the segments demonstrating growth opportunities. In particular, the higher speed monochrome speed segments (31-44 ppm and 45-69 ppm) and the total colour laser market are driving the best growth prospects for the worldwide hardcopy peripheral market.
“We anticipate that initiatives such as managed print services and wider availability of digitally-based content will continue to gradually shift hardcopy peripheral devices away from the desktop and toward more shared and centralized machines.
“As such, vendors who concentrate on these opportunities should find the best payback for future hardcopy peripheral unit and value shipments,” says Phuong Hang, program manager: Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker at IDC.
While the inkjet market contracted -6% year over year, it remains the dominant hardcopy peripherals technology segment with a 58% unit share. In 2Q13, 15,1-million inkjet devices were shipped with 85% of these devices being multi-function printers (MFPs).
In 2Q13, the monochrome laser market grew 3,5%. Monochrome laser devices continue to rank second in both units shipped (8,2-million units) shipment value ($5,4-billion). Monochrome laser units have a 31% share of the hardcopy peripherals market in terms of unit shipments and 39% share in terms of shipment value.
The colour laser market remained the strongest technology growth segment with 9,7% year-over-year growth in 2Q13.
Colour laser devices retain a 43% share of the hardcopy market shipment value in 2Q13, while taking up a 7% share of unit shipments. With 59% MFP penetration and year-over-year growth of 13%, the colour laser market beats these same metrics for the monochrome laser market, which were 47% and 5%, respectively.
HP continued to be the number one ranked vendor in 2Q13 with worldwide market share of 40,5% and 0,5% year-over-year growth. HP’s year-over-year growth averaged 5% in six (Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan)(APeJ), Canada, Japan, Middle East & Africa (MEA), Western Europe, and the U.S.) of the eight worldwide regions.
Canon maintained its position as the number two vendor, with worldwide growth of -2% year over year. The vendor showed positive year-over-year growth in two of its top three markets – Western Europe (12.6%) and the U.S. (2,2). Canon enjoyed 14,2% growth in the inkjet segment in Western Europe, the best year-over-year trend among the top 5 in the region.
While Epson held onto the number three worldwide market share position, its unit shipments declined by -7,3% year over year. This decline represented the biggest drop among the top five vendors. Epson experienced year-over-year declines in all regions except the U.S., where its year-over-year growth was 12%.
Brother maintained the number four market share position with 1,8-million units shipped and a 6.9% share. The vendor grew 3.6% in unit shipments, representing the best year-over-year performance among the top vendors. Similar to HP, Brother experienced year-over-year unit shipment growth in six of the eight worldwide regions.
Samsung rounded out the top five market share vendors with 1,4-million units shipped in 2Q13 and a 5,3% unit share. The vendor showed a unit shipment increase of 3% year over year making it the second best performer among the market share leaders.
Samsung’s double-digit year-over-year growth in Western Europe (28.1%) was driven by deals won in Italy as well as their solid relationship with channel partners in Germany.