According to International Data Corporation (IDC), Hardcopy Peripherals (HCP) market in India dropped by 17.3 percent sequentially in Q4 2015 and reached 813,643 units in terms of overall shipments. Overall, the Government purchasing was slow, complemented by weak consumer sentiments that prompted this decline.
The end of festive season did not pull up the demand as expected from the channel community which was one of the major factors for decline in the Inkjet market in this quarter. Apart from this, the overall buying sentiments were also weak, specifically in the southern part of India where natural calamity in Tamil Nadu played a crucial role in lowering the overall demand. On the other hand, a decrease in number of large government deals affected the Laser Market complemented by the low pull from the enterprise segment in the A4 printer base segment.
Albeit, HP witnessed a dip in this quarter but is still the leader followed by Canon, Epson, Ricoh and others. Canon shipments were inline because of DGS&D (Directorate General of Supplies and Disposals) buying whereas, Epson catered to the demand for their Ink Tank printers. Ricoh used their online business as an additional channel to help them grow in this quarter.
Maninder Singh, Market Analyst – IPDS comments, “Low per page cost and price differential are the key factors influencing a shift in the preference of both the consumers as well as the enterprise segment towards the Inkjet multi-function printers over Laser printers. With major vendors launching Ink Tank printers, the competition is going to get tougher in the Inkjet category in coming quarters.”
MPS (Managed Print Services) is being seen as a major trend in the printing market. It is a cost-effective solution for the printing customers which might not hold the promise to give a big push to the unit shipments but will contribute to the overall revenue growth.
Inkjet market is expected to grow at a higher pace than Laser market because of the Ink Tank printers. The commercial segment that was earlier completely dominated by the Laser printers is now being penetrated by the Ink tank printers.
IDC expects the printing market to transition slowly from entry level Laser to Inkjet because of the Ink tank printers that provide the colour option at sub INR 10K price band making their total cost of ownership low as well. Overall, the customers who need speed and have high page volume printing are still expected to go for Laser Printers.
