Market analysis has found an eight percent decline in A4 printer purchases.
Techradar reported on market analyst CyberMedia Research’s India Monthly A4 Printer Market Review, 1Q CY2015, which suggests that the country’s A4 printer market across inkjet, dot-matrix and laser machines saw an eight percent “sequential decline” in the first quarter of the financial year, though it grew by two percent as a market compared to 1Q2014.
The tech site adds that it doesn’t know “if Indians turned environmentally conscious this year or thought of moving towards a paperless lifestyle”, but the sales figures seem to indicate a “drop”. In turn, HP remains “market leader” in terms of share, with 48 percent of unit shipments in the first quarter, though it saw an eight percent “sequential decline” in shipments from the fourth quarter of 2014. Meanwhile, Epson and Canon came in second and third in terms of market share.
Samsung had witnessed a “continuous decline” in shipments from 1Q2014, but has “turned around” with 58 percent quarterly growth, while Ricoh “maintained shipments at the same level” as 4Q2014.
Narinder Kumar, Analyst for Infotech and Channels Research Practices at CyberMedia Research, stated: “Traditionally the first quarter of a calendar year has an edge on the previous quarter’s shipments; however, this year the trend was reversed due to slow business by HP and Canon. In the inkjet single function printer category, both vendors witnessed shortage of product supply.
“Upward price revision by HP in January 2015 affected the vendor’s business, especially in the laser single function printer category, which was another major reason for decline of the overall India A4 printer market in 1Q CY2015.”