According to the latest IDC Asia Pacific Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, the HCP market in India registered a 0.5 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth for the first time in six quarters after unit shipment reached 799,164 in 2017 Q1. The actual numbers for 2017 Q1 are in line with the IDC forecast numbers with only 1% variance in Inkjet HCP and 2% variance in the Laser HCP market.
After demonetization affected 2016 Q4, the printer market bounced back in 2017 Q1 with the inkjet market leading the way with a 15.4 percent growth YOY. Over the past 12 months, the Indian HCP market has witnessed a significant technology shift, with customers showing an ever-increasing inclination towards ink tank printers over entry level laser printers. The main reason behind this shift is the low cost of printing (starting from as low as 7 paise for black and white (B&W) and 18 paise for color printout) and in-box high page yield ink bottles available in the market. There was also a significant marketing push from vendors, which resulted in generating high visibility for ink tank printers.
Inkjet HCP Market
- Epson overtook HP as market leader in terms of unit share for the first time ever after posting a 26.5 percent growth YoY. Epson captured 42.9% of the market while HP had 39.4 percent.
- The market overall was robust with the top 3 vendors posting double-digit growth. HP and Canon posted 11 percent and 13.6 percent YoY growth, respectively.
Ink Tank Printers constitute the lion’s share in the Inkjet market which contributed to Epson’s capturing no.1 position in the category. “Demand from SMEs in smaller cities/towns and home consumers continued to be the driving force behind growth of Ink Tank Printers shipments in 2017Q1.” says Abhishek Mukherjee, Senior Market Analyst, IDC India.
Laser HCP (Printer – Based) Market
- Laser printer market suffered a decline of 10.2 percent in 2017Q1 compared to 2016Q1. Among the leading vendors, Canon managed to register a growth of 12.6 percent for the same period.
- HP Inc. continues to be the market leader in laser HCP with a share of 54.8 percent, followed by Canon and Samsung at the second and third position respectively.
Laser HCP (Copier – Based) Market
- Copier market saw a QoQ growth of 45.9 percent after a soft 2016Q4 with demonetization affecting the jobbers segment and low government spending
- Kyocera shot up to the No.1 spot with a market share of 26.8 percent with a YOY growth of 22.8 percent.
“Laser printer based market continues to face challenges although in 2017Q1 they managed to narrow the shipment gap with inkjet printers quite significantly owing to some good government and corporate deals.” says Manali De Bhaumik, Senior Market Analyst, IDC India.
