Although there was a decline in printer shipments, there was an increase in value, according to IDC research.
IT Online said that a report released by market analysts IDC for 3Q2016 said that the printer market “remained steady in value”, and that Africa has been facing tough economical conditions, which saw shipments decline by 6.5 percent to 470,308 printers. Despite this, the overall market value “increased a steady 4.7 percent” in the same period and reached $196.09 million (€189 million), which was due to a “strong performance [in] the inkjet segment”.
Robert Alunni, Research Manager for Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions at IDC MEAT, said: “While major markets like South Africa and Nigeria suffered large declines in the number of units shipped as households reprioritise their spending on more basic needs, Algeria and Tunisia were able to offset this with strong gains in the colour inkjet space.
“While entry-level devices (less than $100 (€96)) account for the majority of sales in unit terms, the midrange price band ($100–$300 (€96-€288))– which primarily serves demand from the SOHO and SMB segments – accounts for more than half of the inkjet market’s total value. HP Inc continued to dominate the African inkjet market in Q3 2016 with more than 60.0% share in both unit and value.”
It was noted that there was a decline of 4.9 percent in laser shipments, a total of 251,247 printers, but the value of these shipments increased by 3.2 percent in the same period, reaching $166 million (€159 million), which was credited to the growth of colour laser shipments of printers with fast speeds of print up to 91ppm, and this “contributed over 21 percent of the overall market’s value”.
Because of the demand from government and private sectors for A3 laser printers, this has generated the value increase in Africa, and the move from mono to colour has “accelerated, mainly due to improved affordability stemming from increased competition”. IDC said that it “expects the A3 laser segment to enjoy a steady growth rate over the coming years”.
The report said that the serial dot matrix (SDM) market “fell significantly” in 3Q2016, with shipments down 27 percent year-on-year to 9,973 units and the value declining 39.8 percent to $4.7 million (€4.5 million). This was mainly due to the “adoption of newer and more efficient technologies by the major users of SDM technology, such as banks and government institutions”.