Third quarter shows year-over-year growth, marking fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide shipment growth.
IDC reported on the findings of its Worldwide Quarterly Large Format Printer Tracker, which showed that worldwide large format printer (LFP) shipments grew 0.6 percent year-over-year in 3Q2014, with more than 78,000 units shipped; although shipment value declined by four percent year-over-year to nearly $782 million (€632 million).
3Q2014 was the fifth consecutive quarter of worldwide shipment growth, with the wide-format CAD/technical printer market continuing to grow as inkjet printer shipment growth more than offset the decline in toner-based printers. The segment is on track “to grow 5.2 percent worldwide in 2014”. Meanwhile, wide-format graphics printer shipments were “three percent higher through the first three quarters of 2014” compared to 2013.
In terms of vendors, HP leads the wide-format market, gaining share in both shipments and revenues in the third quarter, with this largely driven by “growth in the technical segment” as well as an “increase in HP Latex printer sales”. The OEM was followed by Canon in second place, which has a market share of “nearly 21 percent of worldwide shipments”.
Epson maintained its third-place position, seeing gains in its eco-solvent and dye-sublimation printers, although this was “offset somewhat by the slowdown in the aqueous graphics segment”. In fourth and fifth places were Roland and Ricoh respectively, with Roland only participating in the graphics segment of the wide-format market and Ricoh growing its market share as it entered the technical inkjet market.
These top five vendors “make up over 80 percent of global wide-format shipments, but only two-thirds of revenue”. IDC also noted that “with manufacturers like HP, Canon, and Epson dominating the aqueous segment, this points to the maturity of the conventional aqueous graphics and solvent inkjet markets and the fragmented nature of the wide format UV-curable inkjet segment”.
Phuong Hang, Programme Director, Worldwide Large Format Printer Tracker at IDC, commented: “The third quarter is often the softest quarter of the year in the global large format market. While global shipments are ahead of 2013, hardware revenue is essentially flat for 2014 so far, due primarily to vendor price promotions.”