Wide-format Market grows in Fourth Quarter

IDC’s latest overview saw the sector grow by 6.2% , with 77,000 units shipped in 3Q 2013.

The latest version of the Worldwide Quarterly Large Format Printer Tracker presented the market's growth, which is the first growth period "since the first quarter of 2011 where both units and shipments achieved year-over-year gains", according to the analysts.

The total market value for the third quarter of 2013 came to $802.8 million, which was an increase of 6.2% from the third quarter in 2012, with growth said to have been "fueled" by "solid demand" from both the United States and Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) (APeJ) markets, with the USA seeing a unit increase of 16.5% and value increase of 8.4%, and the APeJ region seeing a 20.9% unit increase and 8.4% value increase as well.

Breaking down the wide-format industry into technical and graphic applications, the former segment grew by 5.7% to 45,900 units shipped, with a 59.1% share of the total market, "unchanged" from the previous year. Seven of eight regions saw growth in technical printing, with the MEA (Middle East and Africa) first with 23.8%, followed by the USA with 15.4% and Japan with 12.7%.

The graphics application segment also saw a unit increase of 6.9% to 31,800 units, a 40.9% share of the total market, with the APeJ and US markets among the four regions that saw growth in comparison to 2012, with 19.8% and 18% increases respectively. In turn, both Japan and the MEA saw increases over the results from 3Q 2012.

In terms of OEM share, HP remains first, with a share of 39.1% and 30,500 units shipped, a decline of 1.4%, though it saw growth in four regions, including the APeJ and US markets with 15% and 13.4% respectively. Epson ranked second, with a growth of 13.5% to 16,600 units shipped – a 21.4% market share, with double-digit growth in the US of 51.4%, the APeJ of 34.2%, Japan with 22.4%, and the MEA with 16.8%.

Canon placed third with unit increase of 12.4% to 16,400 units and a 21.1% share, with all regions growing except Western Europe, with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), APeJ and Canada each seeing an increase of 46.7%, 35.5 percent and 17.3% respectively. Roland held fourth place with 20.9% growth and 2,700 units shipped, with gains everywhere but Europe, including the MEA with 50 percent, APeJ with 45.7%, and Latin America with 45.1%.

Finally, Ricoh held fifth position, with two thousand units shipped for a share of 2.6%, with shipments increasing by 22.1% to make it the "best year-over-year performance", with growth in all regions except Latin America, including a growth of 3.8% in Japan, 45.1% in the US and 20.4% in the APeJ.

Phuong Hang, Programe Director for Worldwide Large Format Printer Tracker at IDC, stated: "Epson was one of the main growth engines in the APeJ market. The password encryption on Epson print heads benefited Epson itself, as well as Roland, Mimaki and Mutoh who OEM from Epson. The encryption was established in December 2012 and helped to prevent other Chinese brands from using Epson print heads to develop their own machines."

The Recycler previously reported that the global wide-format market is set to be worth $12.5 billion by 2016.

Source: Global wide-format market sees growth in final quarter