Lexmark inkjet printer sales slump by over 50%
In industry news, market research company Gartner Inc. last month released its second-quarter summary of worldwide sales of printers.
The company’s research showed numerous hits to Lexmark’s share, most driven by the company’s decision to cut sales of inkjet printers because the customers buying them weren’t printing enough.
The company withdrew from 20 percent of its inkjet sales in 2006 and then announced in October 2007 that it would drop an additional 30 percent of sales in hopes of finding the most profitable customers.
Among Gartner’s findings:
■ Lexmark’s results weren’t broken out for North America, but Gartner said it lost market share because of its strategic shift in inkjet. Overall, sales of inkjet’s fell 3 percent in the quarter because “consumers have become more vigilant of their discretionary spending.”
Also, sales of single-function inkjet’s have fallen off dramatically. Multi-function inkjet’s, which include copying, scanning and sometimes faxing functions, now account for 80 percent of all inkjet sales.
■ In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Lexmark saw its inkjet printer sales fall 55.5 percent year-over-year because of its strategic shift.
■ In Latin America, its inkjet shipments declined 40 percent overall. Sales of its photo and photo-capable printers grew 272 percent, but Gartner said that couldn’t offset a 77 percent drop in the sale of low-end inkjet’s. Lexmark’s inkjet market share has been cut in half during the past five quarters. It’s now at 7.7 percent, Gartner said.
In the segment that is generally laser printers and laser multi-function printers, Lexmark lost 3.7 percentage points in market share to drop to a 7.4 percent share.
