HP Leads Hardcopy Peripherals Market

Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Undergo Double-Digit Decline in the Fourth Quarter of 2008, According to IDC

Worldwide hardcopy peripherals shipments declined 17.0% year over year to 32.6 million units while revenue from these shipments fell 13% to $15.0 billion in the fourth quarter of 2008 (4Q08), according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker. This is the second consecutive quarter that the worldwide hardcopy peripherals market has experienced a decline in shipments.

“IDC expects the market to bottom out in 2009, in response to the international economic crisis, and then start a recovery in 2010,” said Alyson Frasco, director, U.S. Hardcopy Peripheral Trackers & Forecasts. According to Phuong Hang, program manager, Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, “Over the next year, vendors will employ several strategies to weather the downturn. The battle will continue in the channel as vendors seek to gain go-to-market strength and capacity. Vendors will also focus on offering cost-cutting and productivity enhancements to customer’s existing document infrastructure as well as driving managed print services.”

The inkjet market remained the dominant segment in 4Q08, with 22.8 million units shipped, but it was also hit the hardest with -18% year-over-year growth. Monochrome laser was the second largest technology segment with 7.2 million units shipped and year-over-year shipment growth of -17.3%. Color laser shipments, the third largest segment, was essentially flat year over year and was the only segment not to experience a decline in the quarter.

The MFP market remains the dominant product type in the overall hardcopy peripherals market with 63.3% of the 20.7 million unit shipments in 4Q08, and was the least impacted of the product types with a -12% year-over-year decline. The printer market was hard hit with a -24% growth rate resulting in shipments of 11.8 million units as the market continues to move to MFP devices.

Vendor Highlights

• HP — HP remains the leading vendor in the total hardcopy peripherals market with 41% share, down from 43% in 4Q07. The brightest spot for HP was the color laser MFP segment, where HP grew unit shipments 82% year over year and gained nearly eight points in market share.
• Canon — Canon did quite well compared to its competitors in 4Q08 and remained the number two vendor in the hardcopy peripherals market. Canon’s unit shipments declined only 8% year over year, resulting in an increased market share of 19%, up 2 points from 4Q07.
• Epson — Epson rounds out the top three with 15.4% market share in 4Q08, an increase from 14.8% in 4Q07. While its overall year-over-year growth fell 14% worldwide, Epson’s inkjet MFPs experienced 43% sequential growth in 4Q08 — the best percentage expansion among the top 5 and across regions.
• Brother — Brother took a distant fourth place in the hardcopy peripherals space, with 6.2% market share. However, Brother is the only vendor in the top 5 showing a positive trend year over year. While growth is stalled in the Americas, Brother’s units shipments grew, sequentially and year over year, across Asia/Pacific and EMEA in both single-function printers and MFPs.
• Lexmark — Lexmark rounds out the top five worldwide market players, losing nearly two points in total market share this quarter (4.7%). The strongest growth for Lexmark was the global Laser MFP segment where its shipments grew 20% year over year.

Worldwide Hardcopy Peripherals Market Share and YoY Growth

Source: IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, February 2009