Printer sales bounce back to black across Europe

Davies: Sales are up for the first time in nearly two years

Businesses across Europe’s leading economies are buying printers again, according to the latest statistics from technology market analyst Context.

Jeremy Davies, co-founder of Context, said March sales of inkjet and laser printers through major distributors in the top European economies went into the black for the first time in nearly two years.

“Multifunction printers (MFPs) are leading the sales growth,” Davies said. “Inkjet MFPs showed a growth of 15.9 per cent in March year-on-year, while laser MFPs grew by 16.5 per cent in the same period.”

Unit sales rose 2.9 per cent in March 2010 from the same period a year ago. Revenue increased 4.5 per cent. Average selling prices stopped falling, and rose from an average £121 for the previous six months to £124 for the first quarter of 2010.

The UK saw printer sales rise 10.2 per cent in unit terms year-on-year, behind Germany’s 19.1 per cent increase and the Netherlands’ 21.4 per cent jump in printer sales.

Inkjet MFPs continued to grow market share, increasing by more than six points to 58.7 per cent share of distributor sales in March 2010.

Top printer brand via distribution was still HP, with 49.3 per cent market share by unit in the month, followed by Epson (17.2 per cent), Lexmark (6.2 per cent), Samsung (seven per cent) and Canon (6.6 per cent).

Standalone laser printer unit sales kept falling steadily, with 17 per cent fewer units sold in March when compared to March 2009. Similarly, single-function inkjet printer unit sales were still declining – but the collapse has slowed to 17 per cent year on year, from 40 per cent year on year for previous months.

Standalone colour printer sales grew 8.6 per cent in unit terms from March a year ago.

Worst-performing country was Spain, with unit sales down 21.8 per cent for the period, followed by France (-5.9 per cent).