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Inkjet All-in-Ones/MFPs Boost Printer Shipments in Europe in Second Quarter

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According to London-based IT market-research firm Context, unit shipments of printers and All-in-Ones/MFPs in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) continued to improve in the second quarter of 2017, with shipments up 4 percent year-over-year, compared to a decline of 3 percent in second-quarter 2016.

According to Context, the increase in shipments was mainly due to shipments of inkjet-based MFPs/All-in-Ones.

Western Europe accounted for almost 70 percent of all printer shipments in EMEA and reflected the performance in the region as a whole, versus a decline in shipments of 6 percent in second-quarter 2016.

Shipments of laser-based MFPs also grew, with laser shipments growing 10 percent year-over-year.

Zivile Brazdziunaite, imaging market analyst at Context commented: “This was mainly due to shipments to Germany, France, and the U.K. Sell-in (sales) of MFPs accounted for the growth of 3 percent in France, while there was a double-digit increase in sell-in across all categories in Germany and the U.K., contrasting with the double-digit declines seen in the same quarter last year. In the U.K., this was mostly because of increasing unit shipments of inkjet MFPs, whereas sell-in of laser hardware accounted for 12 per cent year-on-year growth in Germany.

Meanwhile, printer shipments to Italy and the Netherlands were down, and Spain saw an increase of 1 percent for second-quarter 2017,  said to be due to a strong performance of laser-based MFPs.

According to Context, the Middle East and Africa (MEA) continued to outperform other regions, with unit shipments increasing by 16 percent. This again follows a double-digit decline last year. An increase in sales of inkjet-based MFPs is said to mainly account for the positive performance, but unit shipments of laser single-function printers also saw double-digit growth for the quarter.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia drove the increase in the Middle East. Printer sales in Turkey grew by five percent year-over-year, with most of the growth said to be due to inkjet-based  MFPs as unit shipments of SFPs continued to decline.

Printer sales to Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) fell by 3 percent year-over-year in second-quarter 2017, in spite of sales of inkjet-based devices registering an increase of 9 percent, because of poor sales of laser hardware and a particularly strong performance in the same quarter last year.

Unit shipments to Russia declined by five percent year-on-year and, to a large extent, is said to have influenced the overall performance of the region. Negative results in Poland and Romania were also due to weak unit shipments of laser-based hardware for which increasing sales of inkjet MFPs could not compensate. In contrast, sell-in of printer hardware to Kazakhstan and Belarus continued to increase and were driven mainly by laser-based printers.

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