Gartner: Domestic office equipment market continues decline in 2010

The domestic copier and printer market will witness a slight contraction this year as well, from 57.1m euros to 51.2m euros, after having plummeted by over 50% last year, according to Gartner research company.
The most seriously hurt segment last year was that of printers, which fell by 57.2%, to 85,314 units, in the context where the entire office equipment market dropped from 52m euros to 125.2m euros a year before.
"Though the financial sector is regaining health, lending will not be resumed, and access to loans will still be tight. Also, the unemployment rate is rising further in 2010. Unfortunately, this will hurt the recovery of the office equipment market," say Felix Enescu, Gartner Romania head.
According to Gartner data, 56% fewer business multifunctional printers were sold last year, and sales reached 1.7m euros. Also, sales of copiers shrank by 44%, to 194,606 units.
In turn, a GfK survey reveals sales of office equipment were the hardest hit in the second quarter of 2010, going down by 28.9%.