European shipments of printers and multi-function peripherals (MFPs) declined 17.3% year on year to 4,375,000 units in the second quarter of 2023, according to the latest release of the Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker published by International Data Corporation (IDC).
Overall hardcopy peripheral (HCP) demand remains low as economic conditions, such as the slowdown in GDP growth and high inflation rate have a negative impact on consumer purchasing power and investment decisions in both the public and private sectors. Results for the first half of the year were also down, with shipments declining by more than 10% compared to H1 2022.
Despite a decline in the number of units sold, market value has seen an upward trajectory, attributed to the enhanced accessibility of devices, which fuelled shipments of printing hardware, especially within the midrange and high-end colour laser segments. As a result, the total HCP market value in Europe grew 1.5% year on year to reach $2.25 billion (€2.1 billion).
“Seeing the fourth consecutive quarter of year-on-year value growth on the European HCP market suggests that printing vendors have overcome major supply chain issues,” states Michal Swiatek, Research Manager for Imaging, Printing, and Document Solutions at IDC Europe.
The top 5 vendors in terms of units on the European market remained unchanged from the previous year: HP Inc., Canon, Epson, Brother, and Pantum (in order). Out of those brands, Brother gained 3.2 percentage points in unit market share year on year due to enhanced product availability, which allowed the vendor to consistently resupply its channel.
The European HCP market is projected to keep contracting moderately in unit terms in 2023, with possible recovery in the laser segment starting from 2024 onwards.
