Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, January 21, 2013. The printer and multifunction peripheral (MFP) market in Vietnam showed resiliency in Q3 2012, growing by 31% sequentially and 8% compared to the same period last year.

The growth was mainly due to two reasons. First, The high growth rate of single function printers and higher demand on low-end models together with rising demand coming from various IT bundling programs.

Second, the strong return of various low-end laser models, which were delayed in shipment for some quarters. Increased purchases from the government also helped to push up the bleak market.

The local market is expected to ride the growth momentum to reach 26% growth by the end of 4Q 2012 posting 155,000 units.

"Printers and MFPs in 3Q 2012 exhibited better growth rate in the market. The rising demand and subsequent completion of projects from the public sector, particularly the government, and the banking sector greatly contributed to the growth during the quarter. Large impact promotions and continuous launch of new models also boosted the market,” says Tu Dang, IDC market analyst for Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions.

She adds that Vietnam is a unique market among Southeast Asian countries, as the local market is dominated by laser products rather than inkjets.

Figure 1

While the market was heavily boosted by the laser printer, laser MFP market saw a decline of 1.9% sequentially and 0.44% yearly.

This segment has yet to reach the expected growth as majority of users are still reluctant to choose MFPs with all of its many functions, which require knowledge in usage.

Moreover, the reduced prices of laser printer, copier and scanner, as well as the ease of usage and replacement, provide for a maintained strong presence of separate machines for specific purposes.

On the other hand, inkjet products continued to make larger inroads in Vietnam. In the first nine months of 2012, the total inkjet shipments reached 83,000 units, increasing by 72% compared to the same period in 2011.

Aside from heightened competition on unit price and printing quality, inkjets are now also heavily focused on better usage cost to compete with laser units. Modern applications like eprint, Wifi-printing functions and CISShave been applied into inkjet MFP/printer, which bring more benefits to users.

Promotional activities such as roadshows, exhibitions and marketing events throughout the year also helped to bring inkjet closer to users.

Despite the high inflation and social-business issues, total Hard Copy Peripherals (HCP) market is expected to increase by 9.18% annually in 2013. However, this rate is mainly for the growth of laser as it is the most popular choice of businesses and government units. After a high growth year for bundling programs with PCs in 2012, inkjet is forecasted to decrease by 12%, reflecting a more accurate purchase demand in the market.

For more information about purchasing this research data, please contact Lam Nguyen at +848-3521-8009 or lnguyen@idc.com. To set up an interview with Tu Dang, please contact Agita Saraswati at +6221 520 3496 or asaraswati@idc.com

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