PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
The worldwide large format printer market has seen growth for the first time in almost three years.
IDC claimed that the market’s growth of 6.2 per cent year-on-year marks the first year-on-year gains in both units and shipment value since Q1 2011.
Fuelling the recovery was the shipment of over 77.7 thousand units during the quarter, leading to an estimate market value of $802.8 million (£491.76 million).
Both the United States and Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) regions contributed majorly to the increase in demand, with the latter seeing a gain in units of over a fifth (20.9 per cent).
"Epson was one of the main growth engines in the APeJ market,” said Phuong Hang, program director of IDC’s Worldwide Large Format Printer Tracker.
“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."
HP continued to reign as the number one vendor in Q3 2013, with Epson climbing a spot to sit at number two – pushing Canon down into third position. Roland and Ricoh continued to hold the number four and five spots in the market respectively.
