Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Market Maintains Its Growth Trajectory in the First Quarter of 2014, According to IDC

The worldwide hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market grew for the third quarter in a row to 26.4 million units shipped in the first quarter of 2014 (1Q14) resulting in 2.1 percent year-over-year growth, according to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker. The two biggest regions, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) and Western Europe, recorded year-over-year increases of 5.5 percent and 7.1 percent to 7.7 and 5.4 million units shipped, respectively.

Three of the global top 5 vendors – HP, Epson, and Brother – recorded year-over-year growth in 1Q14. HP benefited from the Ink Advantage program for end customers and promotions to channels and end-users. Epson's year-over-year increase was due to the vendor's multifunction printer (MFP) expansion. The Expression series continued to lead the way as Epson renewed its instant rebate program ranging from $20 to $150 on most of the models in this series.

Other notable results include Ricoh's making the worldwide top 5 list for laser printers for the first time ever. The vendor achieved outstanding results in both EMEA and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan). Year-over-year growth of 9.8 percent was helped by the vendor's recent ramp up in color MFPs. Ricoh has also been pushing its "Services-Led Approach" among its channel partners, which is slowly beginning to pay off.

"Aligning with IDC's prediction that 2014 would be a year of growth and sales execution is the fact that ongoing vertical opportunities will be an important target for the hardcopy peripherals vendors. To effectively execute sales in these opportunities, sales reps will need to be deeply educated on that vertical. Common vertical targets are already in place and typically include the traditionally document-intensive healthcare, financial, public sector, and legal markets. One vertical that we expect to hear more about in 2014 is manufacturing," said Phuong Hang, Program Director, Worldwide Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers.

Technology Highlights

Losing share to laser technology, inkjet registered 58.4 percent of overall shipments in 1Q14, down three points from last quarter, while laser devices gained four points to 38 percent share over the same period. Five of IDC's eight regional markets saw year-over-year growth in laser shipments with the Middle East & Africa leading the way at 16.6 percent, followed by Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) at 11.2 percent.

Monochrome laser devices accounted for 80.1 percent of the laser market with 8 million units shipped in 1Q14, resulting in 2.6 percent year-over-year growth. Color laser grew 8.9 percent year over year to more than two million units, resulting in a 19.9 percent share of the total laser market in 1Q14. This marks the fourth consecutive quarter where the color laser segment showed positive year-over-year growth, contributing to a 3.8 percent year-over-year increase for the total laser segment.

Vendor Highlights

HP led the global HCP market with 40.3 percent market share in 1Q14. The vendor grew 6.5 percent year over year, the second highest year-over-year trend among the top 5. HP posted positive year-over-year growth in five of IDC's eight regional markets. The vendor continued its year-over-year growth in Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) due to the expansion of its reseller network outside metropolitan areas.

Canon continued as the second-ranked vendor with 18.5 percent market share and 4.9 million units shipped. Canon's shipments declined -7.2 percent year over year due to less than stellar results in six out of eight regional markets. Contributing to the decline was the retirement of many older models in 1Q14, while new or replacement models were few. In addition, some of the models launched in the prior quarter did not gain as much traction due to a cyclically slow quarter.

Epson held the third place ranking with 14.3 percent share and close to 3.8 million units shipped. The vendor recorded positive year-over-year performance in all of its top 3 regions, including Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), Western Europe, and the United States. The vendor's expansion was driven by its MFP product line. The Expression series continued to lead the way as Epson renewed its instant rebate program ranging from $20 to $150 on most of the models in this series.

Brother ended the first quarter of 2014 with more than 2 million units shipped, resulting in 1.5 percent year-over-year growth. The vendor achieved 42 percent year-over-year growth in Japan due to its winning of a few big deals.

Samsung rounds out the top 5 in the total hardcopy peripherals market with approximately 1.6 million units shipped in 1Q14. The vendor declined -7.3 percent year over year in 1Q14, resulting in 6.0 percent market share, down half a point from a year ago. Samsung grew 5.8 percent year over year in its biggest region, Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan), where significant wins were recorded in various sectors, including government, banking, and enterprise.

Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals, Vendor Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, First Quarter 2014

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, May 2014

U.S. Hardcopy Peripherals, Vendor Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, First Quarter 2014

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, May 2014