Despite Growth in Many Emerging Markets, Worldwide Large Format Printer Shipments Declined 5% in the Third Quarter of 2012

While many emerging markets posted growth in the large format printer (LFP) market during the third quarter of 2012 (3Q12), these gains could not offset a decline in total worldwide shipments.

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Large Format Printer Tracker, overall shipments in the worldwide LFP market declined 5.0% year over year to just under 73,000 units in 3Q12. Among the emerging regions, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, and the Middle East enjoyed growth, albeit single digit, in the third quarter. However, these gains were not evenly distributed as emerging markets declined 3.9% overall while mature markets declined 5.8% year-over-year.

"Although shipments have slowed over the past year, IDC expects large format printers to remain a significant market in the future," said Phuong Hang, program manager, Worldwide Large Format Printer Tracker. "LFPs are moving into new applications, especially in graphics, that will help to offset losses caused by the sluggish global economy."

Technology Highlights

The technical application segment saw 42,500 units shipped in 3Q12, yet declined 3.4% year over year. Despite this contraction, technical remained the larger market segment with 58% share of the total LFP market in the third quarter, up from 57% a year earlier. Mature and emerging markets both declined at about the same rate, with each market having some regions increasing, but offset by declines in other regions.

The graphics application segment fell 7.0% year over year in 3Q12 with shipments of 30,400 units accounting for 42% of the market, down from 43% a year ago. Mature markets showed a higher rate of decline than emerging markets in this segment. The bright spot was Latin America, which showed modest single-digit growth, while all other regions were flat or negative.

Vendor Highlights

Despite a year-over-year decline of 10.1% in shipments, HP remained the global market leader with 42.4% share, a drop of more than two points from a year earlier. HP remains the clear market leader in its traditional area of strength, the technical market, with more than three times the share of its next competitor. HP also held its second place position in the graphics market, trailing market leader Epson.

Epson remains in second place in the LFP market overall, but continues as the leader of the graphics applications segment, with double the share of the next vendor, HP. Shipments declined slightly year-to-year, but Epson was able to hold its share at 20.4% overall. While technical printers are only a small part of its LFP sales, Epson has grown shipments and increased share in this segment over the past year.

Canon's shipments increased moderately in the third quarter compared to a year earlier, enabling the vendor to increase its share to 16.2% and hold its number 3 position in the overall market. Canon increased its share in both the technical segment, in which it holds the second position, and in the graphic segment, where it is the number 3 vendor.

Following the top three vendors, HP, Epson and Canon, there is a sharp dropoff to the next vendor, Oce, which holds a 3.3% share of the worldwide LFP market. Oce’s shipments and share declined moderately year over year in 3Q12. Oce maintained its number 3 position in the technical segment.

Roland rounded out the top 5 vendors worldwide with a 3.1% share of the overall LFP market. Roland enjoyed 9.3% year-over-year shipment growth in the third quarter, producing a small uptick in overall share. Roland’s strength is the graphics market, in which it held fourth place worldwide, unchanged from a year earlier.

Worldwide Large Format Printer Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Third Quarter 2012

Vendors	3Q12 Unit Shipments	3Q12 Market Share	3Q11 Unit Shipments	3Q11 Market Share	3Q12/3Q11 Growth
1. HP	30,873	42.4%	34,347	44.8%	-10.1%
2. Epson	14,848	20.4%	15,228	19.9%	-2.5%
3. Canon	11,826	16.2%	11,193	14.6%	5.7%
4. Oce	2,408	3.3%	2,745	3.6%	-12.3%
5. Roland	2,258	3.1%	2,066	2.7%	9.3%
Others	10,674	14.6%	11,121	14.5%	-4.0%
Total	72,887	100.0%	76,700	100.0%	-5.0%

U.S. Large Format Printer Shipments, Market Share, and Year-Over-Year Growth, Third Quarter 2012

Vendors	3Q12 Unit Shipments	3Q12 Market Share	3Q11 Unit Shipments	3Q11 Market Share	3Q12/3Q11 Growth
1. HP	6,239	42.1%	6,360	42.0%	-1.9%
2. Canon	3,139	21.2%	2,513	16.6%	24.9%
3. Epson	2,640	17.8%	3,683	24.3%	-28.3%
4. Oce	819	5.5%	667	4.4%	22.8%
5. Roland	510	3.4%	341	2.3%	49.6%
Others	1,483	10.0%	1,573	10.4%	-5.7%
Total	14,830	100.0%	15,137	100.0%	-2.0%