IDC reports Ink Tank Printers to top India HCP market recovery during second half of 2020

The HCP industry observed the sharpest year-over-year (YoY) decline of 59.6%, to date according to the latest IDC Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, 2Q20. India hardcopy peripherals (HCP) market registered shipments of 0.34 million units in 2Q20 (April – July 2020), with a decline of 47.9% quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) as the country remained under complete lockdown through the first half of the quarter 2Q20.

On the Inkjet segment, supply chain challenges along with the pan-India lockdown at the beginning of the quarter led to a sharp YoY decline of 46.7%. Vendors faced supply issues mid of the quarter as their manufacturing hubs in China and Southeast Asian countries grappled with the unprecedented global surge in demand for inkjet printers from the Home segment.  Within the inkjet segment, the ink tank printer segment noted a YoY decline of 41.1% while the ink cartridge segment declined by 59.1% in the same period.

The Laser segment (including the Copier segment) suffered an even sharper YoY decline of 74.5% following the drop in demand from the commercial segment. In the second half of the quarter, once the lockdown was lifted, some corporates and SMBs resumed operations at the offices with a limited workforce but a significant majority of the organizations continued operating through work from home. Additionally, unfavorable market conditions that forced businesses to cut their expenses, led to the sharpest YoY decline to date. For similar reasons, the Laser Copier segment too witnessed its highest-ever YoY decline of 65.1% to date.

Bani Johri, Market Analyst, IPDS, IDC India, says, “With the onset of partial uplift of lockdown across the country from mid-May onwards, consumers preferred to procure from e-commerce channels. This resulted in significant growth in online channel contribution to the overall sales by more than 15 percentage points. Within the HCP market, demand for ink tank segment rebounded significantly, and quickly once the lockdown restrictions on non-essential item sales were lifted. Also, within the overall inkjet segment, demand for Wi-Fi and multi-function printers witnessed a considerable increase from the home segment. On laser printer front, single-function printers captured the highest ever market since 3Q12 as small offices and SMBs purchased these printers to manage their operations from home."