Shipments of printers and copiers in Australia in the first quarter of 2018 were down 8.8% on the figures for the same quarter in 2017, market researcher IDC has reported.
The downturn was primarily driven by the sales volume loss of low price-band laser models, IDC says. However both laser and inkjet markets were down, reducing 8.6p% and 9.3% respectively year-on-year.
Among inkjet printers, Canon shipments were down by more than 20 percent, as the Japanese company shifted its focus to higher value models. Brother and HP filled the gap, increasing their inkjet market shares by 1.2 and 2.8% respectively.
In the laser market, Fuji Xerox saw its market share plunge no less than 30%, apparently reflecting top-level executive and board resignations after last year’s massive accounting scandal, which found that A/NZ revenues had been overstated by $450 million over five years.
Brother used the situation to take market share from its competitors, posting positive YoY growth of 6.5%.
Commenting on the market trends, IDC analyst Jimmy Lee says top brands have been shifting their focus to higher end models, while single-function printers are slowly taking market share from multi-function models, and are now occupying 46.6% of the laser market
Looking ahead Lee says the downward trend is expected to continue in 2018 for both inkjet and laser markets.
