Nine percent growth in 2014 driven by B2B sales, which rose 16 percent.
According to data from market analyst CONTEXT, Finland and the Netherlands saw the biggest increases in sales from 2013 to 2014, going up 58 percent and 36 percent respectively. Italy and Belgium also had significant growth, with sales growing by 21 percent and 17 percent respectively. Meanwhile UK sales decreased by eight percent, and Portugal saw the worst results with sales falling by 22 percent.
In terms of OEMs, HP made up 60 percent of the market and saw unit sale increases of 17 percent in 2014 and three percent in 1Q2015. Epson enjoyed a market share of 19 percent and upped its B2B sales by five percent last year. Below them was Brother with 12 percent share and an 11 percent year-on-year growth, helped by its A3 business inkjet sales, which contributed half of all A3 B2B sales through Western European distributors.
Canon, meanwhile, entered the market at the end of last year via its MAXIFY product line, which was launched in September 2014. It currently has a share of three percent in sales to the B2B channel.
Zivile Brazdziunaite, Imaging Analyst at CONTEXT, said: “HP OfficeJet Pro X and Enterprise X models with page-wide array inkjet technology were mostly sold to the B2B Channel, while Epson’s Business Inkjets with Precision Core technology are making inroads with sales into both B2B and B2C Channels”.