According to IDC, the W. European printer and multifunction (MFP) market sees shipments drop by -6.7% Y-o-Y to 4.8 million units in Q3 2018, while revenues are down by -2.1% Y-o-Y as the market continues to transition to higher-speed and colour A3 devices.
Laser markets show better-than-expected performance, declining by -1.2%. Colour and monochrome remain "relatively stable," with colour shipments showing a marginal increase and monochrome shipments show a small decline in terms of units, with a slight increase in revenues. The market does continue to see declines in single-function printers and an increase in MFP products, notable monochrome devices.
The inkjet markets suffer most in shipment terms, with a -9% Y-o-Y Q3 2018 drop even as revenues decline at a slower rate. Most inkjet OEMs see lower inkjet device sales, since both home and business users are printing less. The business inkjet market is currently in transition, with higher-priced and higher-spec devices shipping instead of entry-level models. The result is an increase in revenues, particularly with business inkjets growing "strongly."
The overall production markets see a "small" decline, with an increase in colour laser shipments and a decline in monochrome, just as with office devices. Also on the up are shipments of labels and packaging models.
"The HCP market will show an overall decline in 2018 as the market transitions away from the printed page to the digital page, but the Western Europe market remains a sizeable opportunity for many," IDC remarks. "Print remains an important attribute for many companies and it's clear that there are many transitions and opportunities that remain in areas such as color, ink, and even monochrome. Those suppliers utilizing their IT services, security, and environmental policies are seeing some success as a result."
In geographic terms the big 3 markets, Germany, France and the UK, reflect the overall market decline, if with some differences. German Q3 2018 shipments are down by -5.6% Y-o-Y to 1.2m units, with contractions in both ink and laser markets. The only area of growth is the consumer inkjet market, while colour printers increased "slightly."
France sees a shipment strong decline of -15.2% Y-o-Y to 878000 units. The country did have a strong Q2 2018, and sees double-digit growth in A4 colour MFPs. On the other hand UK shipments are down b -1.4% Y-o-Y to reach 894000 units, outperforming most other countries with strong growth in both colour and monochrome laser shipments. Inkjet shipments are down, even as business inkjets show double-digit growth.
Go IDC WW Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker November 2018
