Worldwide hardcopy market sees continued growth in 4Q13

February 20, 2014
Final quarter of last year marked hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market’s continued recovery, with a year-over-year increase in shipments of two percent.
IDC has found that the worldwide HCP market showed growth in the fourth quarter of 2013 (4Q13), with shipments reaching 31.7 million units, while the total shipments for the year declined slightly by 1.6 percent. Positive performance from the laser segment was attributed to the market’s continued growth, with the segment growing 4.5 percent year-over-year in 4Q13 and by 3.6 percent for the full year.
Strong market activity from three of the five top vendors was also noted as a factor for the quarter’s growth, particularly HP and Brother; with HP increasing channel support and becoming more flexible on pricing and incentives and Brother launching several products to expand its presence in the monochrome laser segment.
Strong year-over-year shipment growth was seen in the two largest market regions – Western Europe and Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APeJ), which grew by 5.5 percent and 7.3 percent respectively in 4Q13. In terms of full-year results, APeJ experienced a 1.5 percent year-over-year growth while Western Europe declined slightly by 0.4 percent.
The dominant technology in the HCP market continued to be inkjet, with more than 19.6 million units shipped and a market share of 62 percent; although worldwide inkjet shipments declined 1.1 percent year-over-year in 4Q13 and by 4.9 percent overall in 2013. A solid growth was however seen in the Western European inkjet market, which increased by eight percent during the quarter.
Meanwhile the laser market experienced its third consecutive quarter of growth, with all regions seeing growth except Canada and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) experiencing the most growth during the quarter at 31.5 percent year-over-year; followed by APej at 10.1 percent and the US at 7.5 percent.
Within the laser segment, monochrome devices accounted for 82.3 percent of the market with 8.9 million units shipped, resulting in a year-over-year increase of 5.8 percent in 4Q13 and 3.3 percent for the full year. In terms of the total monochrome device market, monochrome laser printers accounted for 52 percent while MFPs made up the remaining 48 percent during 4Q13.
Colour laser shipments grew 9.4 percent to over 1.9 million units in 4Q13, accounting for a 17.7 percent share in the total laser market. This segment has now experienced three consecutive quarters of growth, contributing to a 5.3 percent year-over-year increase for the whole of 2013. 60 percent of the total colour laser segment was made up by colour laser MFPs in 4Q13.
In terms of vendors, HP remained the market leader with over 12.6 million units shipped – the highest quarterly shipment total since 4Q11 – and a growth of 5.4 percent year-over-year, gaining around two points to a total worldwide market share of nearly 40 percent in 4Q13. The OEM saw growth in five out of eight regional markets and posted a full-year growth of 0.9 percent.
In second place was Canon, which shipped more than 6.5 million units and had a 20.6 percent market share. However, the company saw a decline of 6.2 percent, losing two points of market share and growing in three out of eight regional markets. The OEM finished the year with a growth of 0.4 percent.
This performance was followed by Epson, which took third place, growing 8.6 percent in the quarter with unit shipments reaching 4.9 million. The OEM increased its market share to 15.4 percent, but finished 2013 with a full-year decline of 7.7 percent. It did however experience growth in five out of eight regional markets during the final quarter, with Western Europe and the US Epson’s best-performing regions.
In fourth and fifth rankings were Brother and Samsung, with the former holding a 7.5 percent market share and shipping 2.4 million units, growing 12 percent year-over-year due to its strong growth of 16.7 percent in the laser segment. Brother also grew in all regions but Latin America, and completed the full year with an 8.4 percent year-over-year growth, making it the best-performing vendor in this period.
Samsung meanwhile declined by 8.9 percent in 4Q13 and by 3.5 percent for the full-year, shipping 1.3 million units in 4Q13. The OEM dropped its market share by half a point to 4.1 percent, and while it grew in half of the regions, it was not enough to offset the losses experienced in the other four regional markets.
Commenting on the results, Phuong Hang, Program Director, Worldwide Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers at IDC, said: “2013 was a relatively good year for major hardcopy peripherals vendors as most reported a return to some level of growth. IDC anticipates that the recovery will continue at a slow and steady pace in 2014. Effective sales execution will come from having a comprehensive product portfolio, of course, but more important is being well versed in the language of the customer.”


Source: The Recycler