UK printer sales crash as services and green rally
Research
reveals there may still be opportunities in a flat year, despite a drop
in hardware salesAnalyst Gartner revealed sales of printers, copiers
and multifunctional products (MFPs) in the UK fell 26.4 per cent in
volume in the fourth quarter of 2008 and 18 per cent year-on-year.
Tosh
Prabhakar, senior printing market analyst at Gartner, said UK sales
contracted far more than in the rest of EMEA, which overall shrank 8.4
per cent by volume.Until at least 2010, organisations will focus on
right-sizing the number of devices, rather than buying new
printers.“However, managed print solutions (MPS) are huge,” said
Prabhakar. “We do not track them in terms of revenue it is quite
difficult and many providers do not give that information, but MPSs
are now some of the strongest offerings.“Green is also big because it
can reduce costs,” he added.Nigel Allen, product head at Kyocera, said
its green products are selling. “We are actually predicting unit
growth.”Tracey Fielden, marketing manager at Canon, said it had grown
12 per cent in 2008, fuelled by MPS.