By Petr Kramerius, Regional Manager at Infosource
During 2023, Poland’s printing market eclipsed the size of the sanctions-hit Russian market across several segments, reaffirming its position as one of the key territories for printing and scanning vendors in Eastern Europe. In multifunction printers (MFPs), for example, the total market (including toner/laser and inkjet) bounced back to near prepandemic levels and was around 300,000 units larger than the Russian market.
Total toner-based MFP sales increased 19% to around 244,000 units in 2023, while the market registered a 19% decline in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023. The personal MFP category recorded an increase of 22% in FY 2023 (but fell 26% year-over-year in Q1 2024). The black-and- white (BW) personal MFP market increased 5%, representing 75% of the total personal category.
Total toner-based MFPs sales in Poland
The personal color market expanded from around 19,000 to 44,000 units in 2023. Among brands in the total personal MFP market, Brother increased sales by 21% and retained the number one position with a 50.4% market share.
It was followed by HP (sales down 14%, 26.8% share) in second place, then by Canon (15.1% share) and Xerox (6.6% share). Total office sales were up 14% to 66,000 units (growth was flat in Q1 2024 at 13,000 unit sales) and represented 27% of the total MFP market. BW office
MFPs represented a 55% share of the total office market, with sales increasing by 25% in 2023. The color office market was flat at around 30,000 units. Konica Minolta increased sales by 22% (market share 19.6%) to narrowly beat Kyocera (sales down 9%, share 18.5%) to the top spot, followed by HP, Canon, Xerox and Ricoh.
The toner-based single-function printer (SFP) market (67% of the tonerbased MFP market) registered an increase of 9% in FY 2023 and declined 23% in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023. The BW SFP market decreased by 5% and represented an 88% share of total SFP sales. The color SFP category registered an increase of 44%. HP grew sales by 27% (market share 32.6%), just ahead of Brother (sales up 40%, share 32.3%), followed by Xerox, Kyocera, Lexmark and Xerox.
The Polish inkjet market declined 2% to 613,000 units in 2023 and fell 25% in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023. The inkjet market was larger than the toner/ laser market by about 370,000 units. The inkjet MFP market decreased by 2%, SFP dropped 6%, inkjet A3 devices went up 16% and CISS (ink tank) devices increased by 18%. HP retained the top position in 2023 with a market share of 39%, despite a 14% decline in sales. Canon, Epson and Brother came in behind HP.
Total inkjet sales in Poland
Large-format printer sales were up 11% in 2023. The water-based device segment increased by 8% in 2023 as the main ink type category, followed by solvent and UV-cure.
The document scanner market grew 7% in 2023 and declined by 10% in Q1 2024 compared to Q1 2023. Epson kept the number one spot with sales up 20% and a 35.2% market share. It was followed by Brother, Fujitsu, Avision and Plustek. Consumer scanner sales went up 22% in 2023 and dropped 36% in Q1 2024. Canon was the top consumer brand, followed by Epson, Plustek, Avision, and Fujitsu.
Digital invoicing: Impact on printing market
Early this year, the Polish government delayed implementation of mandatory e-invoices and the National E-Invoicing System (KSeF – Krajowy System e-Faktur) from its original proposed date of July 1, 2024. The most recent update from the Ministry of Finance indicates that phase 1 will now begin in February 2026 for large taxpayers and phase 2 will begin in April 2026 for all taxpayers. The effect on the printing industry is going to be substantial because invoices represent a large share of printed documents.
