Printer market falls by 20 percent

The global market for printers, copiers and multifunctional products (MFPs) declined by a fifth in the first half of 2009 to 51.3 million units sold, according to analyst Gartner.

The reasons behind the fall were "weak demand as both businesses and consumers reduced spending and the drop in shipments was also impacted by tighter inventory controls in order to minimise inventory levels in the channels," said Gartner senior research analyst Lai-Ling Lam.

The situation was further exacerbated by "shortages of popular low-end inkjets and page printers to home, small businesses, and small and medium businesses,” added Lam.

Worst hit was market leader HP, where growth declined 26.4 percent from the first half of 2008, a drop of nearly 7,400,000 units. Number two Canon only experienced a 9.6 percent decline, shipping just over a million units less. The upshot was HP losing 3.4 percentage points market share, while Canon gained 2.2 percentage points.

All regions were hit by the fall, with the emerging markets of Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America being worst affected, showing declines of 41.8 percent, 28 percent and 22.9 percent respectively.

Consumer inkjet products were not the primary reason behind the overall decline, even though they recorded a 17.3 percent decline. The primary source of the decline was highlighted as office printing systems, which dropped 24.5 percent.

Lam warned printer vendors that the global downturn could affect buyers' print strategies in the long term as well.

"In this tough economic environment, businesses are delaying or eliminating purchases of new equipment altogether. The global downturn has also forced them to review their printing needs," she said.

Lam does not expect the market to recover before 2010.