Malaysia Hardcopy Peripherals Market Remained Strong in 2011 despite Global Economic Challenges, says IDC

Kuala Lumpur, March 22, 2012 -- Despite an overall decline in government, corporate and consumer spending in 2011, the hardcopy peripherals market (HCP) continued its steady climb upwards. The total HCP market achieved 6.7% annual growth in 2011, representing 1,276,000 shipment units as compared to the previous year of around 1,196,000 units.

"The laser HCP market grew significantly on a year-on-year (YoY) basis in 2011. Public and commercial tenders for managed print service (MPS) solutions contributed most to the growth,” says Donovan Low, Associate Market Analyst for IDC's Peripherals research in Malaysia. The laser multi function printer (MFP) experienced a robust growth of 52.2% in 2011 as compared to just 4.1% for laser single function printer (SFP).

Inkjet HCP, which is the choice of most home users, continued to dominate the total HCP market. It grew by 7.7% YoY and took 67.3% share of the total HCP market, which was close to 858,000 shipment units. Inkjet MFP grew by 18.5% YoY, accounting for 77% of the total inkjet market, while inkjet SFP shrunk by 17.5%, holding just 23% of the total inkjet HCP market.

Donovan adds, “In recent years, demand for multi-function printing devices has been on the rise due to the narrowing price gap between MFP and SFP, especially for inkjet HCP. With a RM100 or less price difference between an inkjet MFP and inkjet SFP, the trend looks set to continue.”

FIGURE 1: 2011 Malaysia HCP Shipments
Source: IDC Asia/Pacific Quarterly HCP Tracker, 4Q 2011

Note: Line printer shipments represented less than 1.0% of the total HCP market in 2010 and 2011.

As the general elections approaches, overall spending from the government and private sector will continue to be sluggish. In addition, the contraction of the global economy will likely shrink the marketing budgets of vendors leading to less sales revenue. Malaysia’s household spending is also forecasted to slow down in 2012. Considering all these factors, IDC expects a slow year ahead for the HCP market with a mere 4.5% growth forecasted in 2012.

For more information about the research or to purchase this data, please contact Harsha Sundararaman at +65-6829-7716 or hsundararaman@idc.com.