BFSI, retail to give DMPs new lease of growth

Mumbai: The DMP (dot matrix printer) market is overcoming a lean period of disappointing growth. Driven by a strong demand happening in the BFSI and retail sector, this segment reported nearly 38 percent growth in JAS 2003 over AMJ 2003, according to IDC India. However, the research agency feels that this high growth may get negated by a traditionally dull period of OND and one can expect this segment to post an overall growth of six percent -seven percent for FY 2003-04.

This news should come as a joy to the DMP market, which until a year ago was reeling under constantly declining growth. In fact at one point of time, its QoQ growth had slipped to be four percent.

"But this trend is fast changing. A strong buying from banking institutions, followed by retail and government organizations is resulting in revival for the DMP market," said IDC India senior research analyst (peripherals) Sahaja Sarthy. However, she felt that this upward trend may not sustain well-beyond 2004 unless newer applications/business segments emerge to drive this market.

"BFSI customers has been one of the largest contributors to our growth in OND 2003. Our DMP business grew by nearly 31 percent growth in this quarter over JAS," informed TVSE marketing GM S Narendran. According to him, the company sold 46,500 units of printers in OND '03 as against 35,357 in JAS '03. Epson too reports of a good OND quarter and estimates sale of nearly 40,000 units.

In JAS 2003 quarter, nearly 1,00,000 units of DMP printers got sold as compared to 72,500 units in AMJ 2003. Epson was a major contributor to this surge by recording nearly 94 percent growth in its unit sales. With 35.2 percent marketshare, it also managed to inch closer to TVSE, which continued to command the top spot with 35.5 percent. The third significant player, WeP Peripherals saw a marginal decline in its share from 29.3 percent to 27.4 percent.

In revenue terms also, Epson saw a good gain in its marketshare from 19.9 percent to 29.5 percent. TVSE's share came down sharply to 35.3 percent from 43.6 percent in this period. With such encouraging signs, Epson now believes that it would be able to take the #1 position very shortly.

"While we may run neck-to-neck with TVSE in the JFM quarter, in the next fiscal, we would be able to take a lead over them," remarked Epson India deputy GM (business products group) N Samba Moorthy. According to IDC, an aggressive channel-focus can be attributed to an increased marketshare for Epson.

"However, it is unlikely that either of these two companies would go far ahead from each other. Further, WeP too is a strong player and has been able to hold back well its share on value terms," added Sarthy. A point that even Moorthy completely agrees to. But Narendran is unperturbed. "Right now Epson enjoys a price-advantage, which is working to its benefit. Once the duty-free regime comes into place, TVSE would have a very strong upper hand in all respect," he added.


DMP dossier

In AMJ 2003, 72,494 units were sold and vendors' share (in unit terms) is as follows: TVSE: 43.8 percent, Epson: 24.6 percent. In AMJ 2003, 72,494 units were sold and vendors' share (in unit terms) is as follows: TVSE: 43.8 percent, Epson: 24.6 percent, WeP: 29.3 percent Others: 2.3 percent. In JAS 2003, 99,696 units were sold and vendors' share (in unit terms) is as follows: TVSE: 35.5 percent Epson: 35.2 percent, WeP: 27.4 percent, Others: 1.9 percent and in *OND 2003, 1,10,000 units were sold and vendors' share (in unit terms) is as follows: TVSE: 40 percent, Epson: 35 percent, WeP: 23 percent, Others: 2 percent.

Source: IDC India, * DQCI Estimates


(CyberMedia News Service)