IDC Korea reported a 5.3% year-on-year decline.
Increased demand for products that reduce printing and maintenance costs, promotion of high-yield inkjet

According to a domestic printer and multifunction printer market forecast report published by IDC Korea (CEO Hong Yoo-sook), the domestic printer and multifunction printer market recorded a 5.3% decline last year compared to the previous year. The overall market decline was caused by a 12.8% decrease in inkjet sales compared to the previous year due to the aftermath of MERS and economic downturn.

Kim Hye-rim, Senior Research Analyst at IDC Korea, stated, “As the domestic printer and multifunction printer market enters a mature stage, the creation of new demand is limited, but there is still room for growth in the enterprise market through the strengthening of solution and specialized channel capabilities.” She added, “The copier market grew by 14.4% year-on-year, driven by the growth of color models, and color models now account for nearly half of the market.”

By product category, the inkjet market was able to maintain growth despite the overall sluggishness of the inkjet sector due to the increasing preference for high-yield inkjets, which offer reduced costs per page despite higher initial purchase prices. In the laser market, intensified competition for market share lowered the purchase price of color multifunction printers, enabling market growth. Within the laser market, the growth rate of copier-based products (14.4%) significantly outpaced that of printer-based products (1.7%). Laser products grew by 3.3% and overtook inkjet for the first time, despite difficult conditions including the absence of large bids.


Printer and Multifunction Printer Market Forecast, 2016–2020 (Unit: Thousand Units) Source: IDC.2016>

By channel, the share of open markets expanded year-on-year to 45.6% through integrated online and mobile sales, but its contribution to revenue remained low due to cutthroat competition. The share of offline channels, including discount stores and mass merchandisers, fell to 17.8% from 19.4% the previous year due to a decrease in visitors following the MERS outbreak. While enterprise-specific channels accounted for 20.6% of shipments, they contributed 51.2% of revenue, demonstrating the growing importance of close collaboration with channel partners.

Printers and multifunction devices are expected to decline by an average of 0.7% annually until 2020 due to the transition to cloud environments.

As the domestic printer and multifunction device market enters a mature stage dependent on replacement demand, a gradual decline in demand is expected. In 2016, a shift in strategy by manufacturers is anticipated, moving away from price competition aimed at increasing market share and toward securing profits. With the printing market expected to shift in the long term toward storing and viewing documents in a cloud environment, IDC forecasted that the domestic printer and multifunction printer market would decline slightly from 2.11 million units in 2015 to 2.04 million units in 2020, with an annual average growth rate of 0.7%.

Regarding this, Senior Researcher Kim Hye-rim predicted, “While a gradual decline in growth rates during the forecast period is unavoidable, the vitality of market growth will be maintained through product mix adjustments,” adding, “For example, it will be important to provide users with an advanced printing environment by offering high-yield inkjet to the consumer and SOHO markets, and MPDS (Managed Print & Document Solutions) that combine hardware and solutions to the enterprise market.”