GfK report shows a 6.9 percent year-over-year growth in the sector.
GfK’s analysis of the office market from 2012 to now
The report from market analysts GfK showed that the sector, which includes toner and inkjet cartridges, grew by 6.9 percent year-over-year to be worth £1.8 billion ($2.8 billion/€2.2 billion), with a 6.5 percent growth over the course of the year to be worth £1.3 billion ($2 billion/€1.6 billion) over the first nine months. In terms of month-by-month value, the sector grew 9.3 percent over last month, a value of £200 million ($320 million/€252 million).
Online sales month-by-month meanwhile grew by a huge 49.4 percent over the same period last year, with the analysts noting that the market “continues to enjoy a positive performance” and “has not suffered a decline since December 2013”. Additionally, the last three months “taken together represent a very successful back to school and university period”, with positive results “widespread among the categories” of products.
On the flipside, the IT market, which includes printers and MFDs, saw a year-over-year fall in value of 1.2 percent to £7.6 billion ($12.1 billion/€9.6 billion), with the results for the year so far showing a 1.6 percent fall in value to £4.8 billion ($7.6 billion/€6 billion), and the monthly change in value saw a fall of 1.5 percent to £600 million ($960 million/€758 million). Online sales meanwhile bucked the trend against last year, with a 6.2 percent growth.
The analysts added of the IT market that desk computing and monitors “continue to lead value growth in the IT sector”, as does mobile computing, but “all this good work” is “being undone once more” by the falling value of media tablets, which fell 24 percent in September alone.