PRAGUE, June 26, 2015 — In 2014, the total home and office printing devices market in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) declined more than 12% in volume terms, representing the fourth year in a row of market contraction, according to the EMEA Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker published by International Data Corporation (IDC). Laser device shipments declined by 11.3% and inkjet shipments by 14.2%. (TZ)
The overall decline was mainly due to significant declines in Ukraine and Russia markets and to declining demand from the home segment in all major CEE markets. In spite of this, some product segments recorded strong double-digit growth, including midrange laser multifunction peripherals (MFPs) and business inkjet devices. Other strong growth was seen in printing devices with functionalities that reflect key global IT trends like mobility (printing from mobile devices) and cloud (scan/print to and from cloud). The majority (over 90%) of business inkjet models sold were WiFi enabled, often with the option of direct connection to the Internet and cloud, as well as printing from mobile devices.
All inkjet manufacturers have already made significant steps to shift their product portfolio and business strategy away from the historic heavy reliance on home buyers/consumers to business customers, particularly small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs). Examples of these new business-targeted devices include HP’s OfficeJet Enterprise and OfficeJet/OfficeJet Pro series, Epson’s Workforce, and Canon’s Maxify. In addition, low-cost-per-page-models, which can serve both home and office users have received increased focus from both manufacturers and end users – e.g., HP’s Ink Advantage, Epson’s L & M Series, Brother’s InkBenefit.
Business inkjet models are posing direct and major competition to entry-level laser devices, especially color laser models. A growing number of SMBs are already opting for a business inkjet printing device instead of a laser device, due to attractive cost per page, ubiquitous capability to print in color (unlike monolaser devices), and improved printing speeds. Furthermore, as the business-sector uptake of inkjet technology grows, the technology is becoming deployed under managed print service (MPS) contracts. HP’s Officejet Enterprise and ProX series and Epson’s RIP machines offer good examples of this trend.
With the HW market mix shifting to business inkjet and low-cost-per-page devices, so too have sales of inkjet consumables gradually moved towards higher-yield ink cartridges. This led to a 10% contraction in sales of inkjet consumables in 2014 in terms of cartridge shipment volume.
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