India's printer market registers a QoQ decline of 16.7%

India’s printing market, comprising inkjet printers, laser A3 and A4 printers and copiers, serial dot matrix printers, and line printers, has registered shipment of 0.84 million units in 2Q22 (April-June), growing by 20.5% year-over-year (YoY). The shipments, however, have declined by 16.7% from a quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) perspective, according to data published by research firm International Data Corporation’s (IDC) quarterly hardcopy peripherals tracker. 

The inkjet segment grew YoY by over 23% following improved stock availability over the previous year, same period. From a QoQ perspective, the segment however declined by 14.6%, following a slight lull in demand from the consumer segment. With decreased footfall in 2Q22 along with summer vacations in schools and colleges, the market demand is likely to pick up in 3Q22 in anticipation of the festive period sale.

The laser printers’ segment (including copiers) recorded a YoY growth of 19.6% even as the vendors struggled with the availability of popular entry-level models. The laser copier segment observed an even better YoY growth of 82.0%. This comes at the back of the demand from the government and the banking segment, which continued its momentum into Q2. In addition, the market finally observed a revival of demand from large enterprises in 2Q22 which had remained stalled since Covid.

“The colour Laser copier shipments crossed the pre-Covid-19 level, having achieved over 15% market share, the second highest in history. This comes at the back of the introduction of new colour models at the end of 1Q22 accompanied by the government’s growing appetite for the same,” said Bani Johri, Senior Market Analyst, IPDS, IDC India.

Johri said, in the Laser printer-based front, a gradual movement in the colour segment from 1-40 ppm to 40+ ppm speed range was observed following the shift in market demand, supplemented by lucrative schemes on high-speed printer-based colour laser printers by the vendors.

Hewlett-Packard has maintained its leadership in the overall hybrid cloud platform (HCP), a print software as a service (SaaS) solution market with a share of 43.8% and a YoY growth in shipment of 45.1%. The Inkjet segment led the growth, wherein HP grew by 70.5% YoY, increasing its market share to 37.3%, following the increased availability of its ink tank models.

In the Laser segment (including the copier segment), HP grew by 26.8. HP particularly grew in the Laser copier segment with a QoQ growth of 5.3%, thus occupying the third position as a result of its increased focus on SMB and corporate accounts.

Epson occupied the second position in the overall HCP market with a market share of 24.3% while registering a marginal YoY growth of 0.2% as it continued to face challenges in securing sufficient stock because of production issues, particularly in the ink tank multifunction printer’s segment. In the inkjet segment, it occupied the first position in the market with a share of 38.3%.

 Canon recorded a YoY growth of 9.9% and occupied the third position in the overall India HCP market, capturing a unit market share of 20.6%. In the inkjet segment, Canon observed a YoY growth of 13.4% on the back of the increased availability of its single-function models. In the laser segment (including laser copiers) Canon maintained its second position with a market share of 22% while growing YoY by 5%. In the laser copier segment, Canon grew by 82.3% YoY and continued to lead the copier segment with a 36% market share following the launch of its new colour models.

“Most of the vendors have increased their pricing by 3-8% across all models, some already having introduced a price hike earlier in the year,” said Johri, adding that while this is “not expected to dampen the demand from the commercial segment, the demand from the consumer segment is likely to remain dull in Q3 2022 as most of the demand seems to have been met in the previous few quarters”.

The online and offline sales during the festive season may provide a much-needed boost to the consumer market, she added.