Sales of Business Inkjet Printers to B2B Channel up +16% in 2014

LONDON - April 13, 2015 - PRLog -- Unit sales of inkjet printers targeted at business users increased by +9% year-on-year in 2014 across Western European distribution, according to data published by CONTEXT, the European IT market research company.

The growth was driven by sales of Business Inkjets sold to the B2B Channel, which were up by +16%.  HP accounted for 60% of the market segment and saw unit sales in this channel increase by +17% in 2014 and +3% in early Q1 2015 (the first 12 weeks of 2015 compared to the same period a year ago).

“HP OfficeJet Pro X and Enterprise X models with page-wide array inkjet technology were mostly sold to the B2B Channel, while Epson’s Business Inkjets with Precision Core technology are making inroads with sales into both B2B and B2C Channels”, said Zivile Brazdziunaite, Imaging Analyst at CONTEXT. Epson has a market share of 19% of the segment and increased its unit sales to the B2B Channel by +5% in 2014.

Brother follows with a share of 12% and +11% year-on-year unit sales growth, driven by their A3 Business Inkjets, which account for half of all A3 devices sold to the B2B Channel by Western Europe’s Distributors. Canon entered the segment at the end of last year with its MAXIFY product line and currently holds a market share of 3% in sales to the B2B Channel.

Business Inkjet Printer sales through distribution by countries for 2014 vs. 2013:

Germany  8%
Italy  21%
UK  -8%
France  10%
Spain  7%
Netherlands  36%
Switzerland  8%
Belgium  17%
Austria  15%
Sweden  -9%
Finland  58%
Norway  -2%
Portugal  -22%

About CONTEXT
Headquartered in London with over 200 staff in 15 countries, CONTEXT specialises in tracking technology sales and pricing across the globe. Supported by the largest Distribution Channel Sales Database in the world, CONTEXT tracks Channel sales in most countries across EMEA where we are the official data partners with all members of the Global Technology Distribution Council (GTDC). CONTEXT reports and services enable our customers to assess their business operations in the light of actual sell out figures, and make business critical decisions based on hard data. Follow us on Twitter: @contextworld.com or visit our website: www.contextworld.com