Recession drives people towards printer ink refills
submitted by markodonoghue on 15 December 2009
The long road of the recession has sparked a dramatic fall in sales of ink cartridges, in favour of cheaper refills and compatibles.
The research firm IDC claims that sales of laser toner consumables fell by 24.9% in the first half of this year. Meanwhile manufacturers' own inkjet consumables sales declined 19.2% year-on-year.
The market for compatible ink cartridges and refills showed a growth, increasing sales by 5.1% over the same period of time. Refills and compatibles now account for 37.3% of the market which is up from 29.6% a year ago.
The majority of the growth has come from countries such as Russia and the Ukraine which are "heavily dominated" by bulks and refills, according to IDC.
"While price increases in Western Europe have helped some OEM vendors to defend revenues in the short term, it does appear that more users have switched to cheaper compatible supplies alternatives, and this is likely to impact OEMs' supplies revenues in the long run," IDC's senior analyst Mario Lombardo claims.
Few companies will spare any sympathy for the printer manufacturers who have been accused of upping their ink prices. Past studies have found that inkjet consumables are more expensive per millilitre than vintage champagne.
Not that we are hinting at printing on paper using vintage champagne!
Submitted by:
Mark O'Donoghue
Associated Links:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/enterprise/354013/recession-drives-people-towards-printer-ink-refills
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