Singapore and Hong Kong, March 12, 2015 – IDC finds printer consumable market in the Asia/Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) region declined 0.5% sequentially but increased 4.0% year-on-year to reach US$1,729.65 million in Q4 2014.

Out of the total consumable market, third party brands contribute nearly US$392 million, which is approximately 23% of the total value. The Asia/Pacific market is witnessing decline in shipment of ink cartridges and as a result revenue of ink cartridges has declined as well. However, laser toner market still recorded growth in revenue.

"Looking at the inkjet space, OEM vendors have launched inkjet hardcopy peripherals (HCPs) which offer more page yield at low cost of print per page (CPP). This strategy has helped OEM vendors as low priced original ink made third party ink products a less attractive option. As a result, the overall shipment and share of third party products has declined. However, this strategy has also affected ink revenue of OEM vendors as high yield ink cartridges are economic as compare to standard cartridges," says Pankaj Chawla, Research Manager for IPDS Research at IDC Asia/Pacific.

In the laser space, overall market continues to record growth, but this growth is driven by third party vendors. In the recent time OEMs have increasingly focused on Asia/Pacific market and recorded growth in shipment of HCPs, which has catalyzed the growth of installed base of HCPs. But this growth in installed base didn't help OEMs as price sensitive SMBs and SOHOs prefer economic third party products over high priced original toners.

Moving forward, IDC believes that laser toner market will witness intense competition between OEM and third party products. Though OEMs are losing share as a part of total unit shipment, their share in revenue is still over 60%. Third party vendors are focusing on growing their revenue by launching high end products (color toners, high speed HCPs). Third party vendor are also changing packaging of their products to target developed market and quality cautious commercial enterprises. These better packaged products are also helping third party vendors to sell their products through modern retail and also through online channels.