Slow Q4 Drags Industrial Printer Shipments Lower in 2024

Shipments of industrial printers declined by 1% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to IDC. Total shipments in the fourth quarter were 5% lower than they were in 4Q23, which dragged overall shipments down for the year.

"For all of 2024, there were industrial printer segments where shipments grew nicely, and somewhere shipments were flat or in decline. The end result is that total industrial printer shipments were slightly lower for the year," said Tim Greene, research director for Hardcopy Solutions at IDC. "We are seeing a trend through 2024 across some of these segments towards faster, more productive, more automated solutions that are driving changes in value of shipments in various regions."

Large format digital printer shipments declined by 1.2% compared to 2023. Year-over-year growth in direct-to-shape (7.8%) and industrial textile (+12.3%) printers was largely offset by declines in the direct-to-garment segment (-12.3%). Label & packaging printer shipments grew by 19.4% compared to 2023.

Q4 was the strongest quarter in all of 2024 for large format printer shipments on a worldwide basis, but was still 5% below Q4 in 2023. DTG printer shipments declined by 6% in 4Q24 compared to 4Q23. Industrial textile printer shipments grew by 6.3%. Label & packaging printer shipments grew by 6.8% in 4Q24 compared to 4Q23.

Latin America (19.7%) and Central & Eastern Europe (4.0%) were the fastest-growing regions for all of 2024. North America represented 25% of total industrial printer shipments in 2024, but shipments declined by almost 6% compared to 2023. Japan had modest growth in total industrial printer shipments in 2024 compared to 2023. Western Europe and China both saw modest declines in shipments compared to 2023.