MPS, colour laser and mobile key to 2013 print sales

IDC has confirmed the market is still declining but says pockets of growth exist

The UK saw the largest print market declines of all western European countries in Q1, contracting 23 per cent year on year.

That is according to the latest IDC analysis, which however noted that bright spots for sales through the rest of 2013 include managed print services (MPS), mobile and colour.

Phil Sargeant, IDC's programme director for imaging and hardcopy devices and document solution research across the European region, said the size of the UK decline was due mainly to the slump in inkjet sales, particularly to home-based consumers.

"Laser shipments increased by three per cent, so there are some little upturns," he said. "We feel there is a little more confidence in the channel in regards to consumers in the laser market."

The UK accounts for 17 per cent of the western European market, which mostly suffered from a similar malaise and as a whole saw a 14 per cent decline in Q1 year on year.

Inkjet has been losing ground as lower-cost colour lasers attract more interest, while there has been an overall shift towards MPS and reductions in value even when shipments have increased.

Print sales to consumers slid 28 per cent in the quarter, while the business print market shrank only eight per cent overall, he said.

Inkjets were down 21 per cent in volume terms in the quarter, and lasers only one per cent. MFPs, whether A3 or A4, are selling better than standalone devices.

Dealer networks are still sticking to boxshifting while VARs, vendors and SIs increasingly focus on the more lucrative value-add opportunities, especially with the rise in mobile and BYOD, he suggested.

HP remains the market leader in vendor terms across the whole market, but Canon, Brother, Samsung and Ricoh gained share in Q1 versus the year-ago quarter while HP and Epson lost ground, Sargeant noted.

"There are some winners and some losers," he said. "Brother had a very strong quarter, with shipments surpassing those of Epson: 3.5 per cent up on shipments two years ago, and 3.1 per cent up on one year ago. It was highly successful with its low-cost A3 MFPs, mainly focusing on SMBs and Soho."