3D printer firm gobbles up VAR as it eyes European expansion

MakerBot claims 3D printers will be more popular than 2D printers in years to come

US 3D printer vendor MakerBot has marked its arrival in the European market by snapping up a German reseller and declaring that traditional 2D printing could soon be a thing of the past.

The New York-based vendor already works with Tech Data in the US but said Europe – and specifically the UK – will be a key battleground in the near future.

To that end, it acquired one of its resellers, German firm Hafner's Buro, which will now form the basis for the MakerBot Europe arm. The new division will continue to manage the firm's existing resellers in the region, as well as the flurry of new ones it hopes to sign up.

Soon after MakerBot was founded in 2009, it worked with customers direct, but now the firm claims the vast majority of its business is touched by its channel partners, of which there are more than 30.

Hafner's Buro founder Alexander Hafner – who will now take on the role of MakerBot Europe's general manager – said growth is the firm's key aim.

"We really want to grow and we say welcome to anybody who can bring a value-add into our ecosystem," he said. "There is a lot of space and spots to fill within the region so there is a lot of space for resellers and partners with specific skills."

He said he has no specific growth targets in mind or a particular number of resellers he wants to sign up because the business is growing so fast and things are changing quickly.

In the UK, MakerBot works with disite Computers Unlimited, which he said has a "fantastic team" for which he has "great expectations".

According to Juniper research from June, consumer hardware sales will rise to $1.2bn (£700m) by 2018.

Hafner said 3D printing could soon make traditional 2D printing redundant.

"Do we actually need them?" he said. "It might be provocative to say, but 3D printing will be more necessary in the future – for a lot of use cases – than the 2D printer.

"Why should anyone print a picture if I can show it with an iPhone? If I want to produce something or have an idea, I have to print it out. If I want to repair something, I have to print it out. If I need a prototype for a new idea to show to a customer, I really have to print it out.

"The best way to show an idea is to have it in your hands. Therefore 3D printing will get more important than normal printing."