Executive Summary

Key Note estimates that the combined market for photocopiers (copiers) and fax machines was worth £690m at msp (manufacturers' selling prices) in 1999, composed of £580m from copiers and £110m from fax machines. These figures include sales of multifunctional products (MFPs), which the manufacturers tend to position as developments of fax machines or as copier/printers.

Copiers fall into seven segments according to their speed of operation, plus an eighth segment for colour copiers, which accounts for a small but fast growing proportion of the market. Fax machines can be categorised by their speed of operation and by the printing technology used, i.e. thermal roll or one of the plain paper technologies. Colour fax machines are just starting to appear on the market.

The copier market has shown a gradual increase in volume between 1995 and 1999. Improved performance and price ratios have tended to decrease the value of sales but this effect has been offset by other factors, mainly the trend from analogue to more expensive digital copiers and the growth in sales of colour copiers.

The fax machine market has shown more erratic progress because of falling prices, but trends in 1999 and 2000 have been positive, as users upgrade to higher-speed models and from thermal roll technology to plain paper faxes.

Several different trends could affect the market progress up to 2004, but Key Note predicts that the overall effect will be a fairly flat value and volume. Sales of multifunctional products are having an impact on the fax sector and manufacturers expect that they will account for up to a third of unit sales by 2002. Their penetration is limited mainly to the small office/home office (SoHo) sector and very small business customers. The thermal roll fax sector is expected almost to disappear by 2002.

In the copier market, the trend to change to digital from analogue seems certain to progress further. Digital copiers could possibly account for 70% of placements in 2000 and nearly all of the market by 2004. A further fall in the price of colour copiers is expected and their sales will subsequently increase. Further growth is expected for networked digital copier/printers.

Key Note estimates that the apparent UK market for photocopiers and fax machines, including multifunctional products, will remain fairly static over the period from 2000 to 2004, rising to £705m in 2000 before falling back to £690m by 2004.

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