A number of experts discussed the “shifting” UK printer market.
PCR produced an article questioning whether the UK printer market is “drying up”, with its Retail Advisory Board of industry figures giving their feedback on the sector, which “despite falling unit sales” in single function laser, has seen MFP laser revenues increase each quarter.
Naeem Adam, Technology Buyer at the Co-operative Group, stated that “printer sales are encouraging at the moment”, with expectations that the market will “continue to grow as manufacturers focus on higher value products”. He added that A3 print “is especially doing well” and should expand “due to the focus Brother has put on it”, though it won’t overtake A4, and believes printing “is different to tablets or mobile phones” as “portable printers won’t ever become commodities”.
Novatech’s Head of Marketing, Tim LeRoy, commented that whilst the group sells “a lot of printers”, sales of retail printers “across the board are definitely declining”, though they “are still an office essential, so business/education spec printer sales are stable”. LeRoy notes that paperless offices and schools are “still a way off in reality”, but that he himself hasn’t had a home printer “for years”.
Next, Micro Plus’ Managing Director Chris Innes stated his belief that “printers are still an important part of our product mix”, as “being keenly priced on consumables […] gets us good repeat business and some decent footfall”. Most of the printers Micro Plus sells are now MFPs, and Innes sees a shift “towards these being used in offices” instead of just for photo printing, and he has also seen less purchases from students “as I presume more schools now accept work in a digital format”.
Scan Computers’ James Gorbold was featured next, noting that the “huge increase” in laptop, smartphone and tablet use “has reduced the demand for in-house and home printing”, whilst Dabs.com’s Product Manager Duncan Rutherford stated that “there is still a demand to be able to print” at home for consumers, whilst consumables are “still booming”, with “increased demand for inkjet” in the B2B sector “due to advances in technology”, with MPS a growing trend.
Each of the respondents was also asked about their view on 3D printers, with Adam stating that he thinks they will “grow and grow and grow” but are “very gimmicky”; LeRoy noting that “it is no fad” but that “there will need to be a price drop” before mainstream retailers sell them; Innes adding that his company “hasn’t ventured” into 3D printing but “will do in the future”; and Gorbold concluding that he was “very enthusiastic”, though it is a “totally different technology base”.