Scanners (Russian market)

Document scanners

• Main article: Document scanners
• Planetary Scanners (Market) Russia

Computer Scanner Market

2022: Computer Scanner Market Shrinks 62% to 9.1K Units

The volume of the Russian market for tablet computer scanners amounted to 9.1 thousand units, which is 62% less than a year earlier. In money, sales decreased by 26% and amounted to $2.5 million. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company ITResearch, which were released on March 7, 2023.

According to experts, 2022 for tablet scanners, as well as for many other segments of the Russian IT market, turned out to be difficult due to the rapid reduction in commodity supply. The main reason for the significant drop in scanner sales in Russia was the departure of large foreign manufacturers from it. In addition, at the end of 2021, Canon tablet scanners stopped supplying to the Russian Federation. From the very beginning of 2022, some foreign vendors suspended supplies, which led to the accumulation of food shortages, the researchers explain.

The main reason for the significant drop in scanner sales in Russia was the departure of large foreign manufacturers from it

At the same time, they noted positive changes in the Russian market of tablet scanners. So, in the fourth quarter of 2022, relative to the first, device sales quadrupled. Models that left the market began to be gradually replaced by products of other brands, satisfying the pent-up demand, analysts added.

At the end of 2022, Avision and Plustek became the new leaders of the Russian tablet scanner market, and Epson products were in third place. As in previous years, entry-level tablets are the leader in the sales structure, however, if earlier these models were in the price range up to $100, then in 2022 most of them fall into the next price category $101-200, the study said.

ITResearch also reported that commodity shortages, the complication of supplier logistics and exchange rate fluctuations led to a significant increase in prices. In 2022, in comparison with 2021, the average price of a tablet scanner doubled. Therefore, the money volume of the market has decreased significantly less than the natural one, analysts added.

They did not report the results of sales of document scanners in the Russian Federation at the end of 2022 and indicated only data for the fourth quarter. During this three-month period, 13.5 thousand document scanners were sold in Russia in the amount of $6.12 million. As in the segment of tablet scanners, the indicators of the last quarter of 2022 were the best in the year (for example, sales in pieces were one and a half times more than in the 3rd quarter and 2.5 times higher than sales in the 2nd quarter), however, the market remained in the red compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, down 30% in pieces and 44% in money.

Commodity shortages, complicated supplier logistics and exchange rate fluctuations have led to significant price increases

Although the shortage of commodity supply, formed due to the withdrawal of some vendors from this market, was gradually compensated by an increase in sales of products from the remaining manufacturers, parity with last year could not be achieved, first of all, in terms of tender supplies, which at the end of 2021 were significantly higher, experts indicate.

According to them, a noticeable difference between the document scanner market and most other IT segments was a significantly more modest increase in prices in dollars. And in the most massive category of models for working groups (31-60 pp/min), which accounted for more than half of all devices sold, the average price even decreased.

Throughout 2022, Avision's products dominated the document scanner segment. The fourth quarter was no exception, even on the contrary, the vendor's market share increased even more. Fujitsu and Plustek took the next two places, with the latter also noticeably increasing its market share by the end of 2022.^[1]

2021:7% market growth to 49.8 thousand units

Sales of document scanners in Russia in 2021 exceeded 49.8 thousand units, which is 7% higher than a year ago. The market returned to growth after the recession in 2020 caused by the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. This was announced at the end of February 2022 by ITResearch analysts.

According to their calculations, the volume of the Russian market for document scanners in monetary terms in 2021 reached $29 million, which is 9.6% more than a year earlier. Higher dynamics in money than in pieces is due to an increase in prices for scanners - on average by 3-5%. At the same time, the main demand in 2021 shifted towards less productive cheap models.

The Russian scanner market has returned to growth.

The growing supply of document scanners in 2021 was observed both as part of large tender deliveries to the corporate segment and regular sales of equipment to the mass office. At the same time, competitive deliveries in terms of the number of devices exceeded this figure in 2020 by 12%, becoming one of the largest in recent years. In turn, regular sales, which, as the researchers note, determine the demand for document scanners from the mass consumer, in terms of growth rates (3.3%) corresponded to the usual dynamics of 3-5% per year.

Since tender deliveries were dominated by models of the initial high-speed category (up to 30 pages/min), the share of this subsegment in the sales structure increased, amounting  to about 60% in general over the year, slightly displacing scanners for working groups (with a capacity of 31-60 pages/min). The market shares of models of senior high-speed categories (over 60 pp/min)  practically did not change compared to the previous year.

 In general   , Avision, Canon  and Epson led the document scanner market in 2021, as in 2020, and    HP Inc., Kodak  and Panasonic in the senior high-speed segments of streaming models.^[2]

Tablet Scaenre

According to ITResearch, in 2021, about 23.8 thousand tablet scanners were sold on the Russian market, 40 % less than a year earlier. Such a practically landslide decline in sales of this category was caused not so much by a reduction in demand as by the fact that a  decrease in commodity supply was added to the competitive factor of sMFP, and in the most massive category of inexpensive universal models. The food deficit became especially noticeable by the end of the year - in the fourth quarter of 2021, only a third of the indicator of the last quarter of 2020 was sold . The reason was the almost complete cessation of sales of several popular models by the end of the year by Canon, which has been the leader in the tablet scanner market for recent years.

According to experts, the demand for tablets has consistently decreased for a long time, gradually losing the market to alternative digitization devices, primarily multifunctional devices and drawers with a built-in or optional tablet. But if in the previous few years the dynamics of the market decline was quite smooth - 15 − 18% per year, then  in 2021. the rate of decline doubled.

 As a result , in the sales structure, the share of universal models in the price segment decreased to $100, losing part of the market to photoscaners (dominated by Epson and Mustek products ), as well as specialized models for digitizing books and other originals of non-standard thickness (Avision, Plustek models).

 In money, the tablet market in 2021 amounted to about $3.4 million, which is 14% less than the previous year. In terms of the total number of tablet scanners sold, the first two places, as before, remained with Canon and Epson,  and Avision took third place.

2020: Decrease in sales of document scanners by 7.1%, to 46.7 thousand units

Sales of document scanners in Russia at the end of 2020 amounted to 46.7 thousand units, which is 7.1% less compared to 2019. Revenue in the market decreased even more - by 20%, to $26.6 million. This is evidenced by the data of the analytical company ITResearch, which were released in February 2021.

According to the researchers, one of the reasons for the fall in the document scanner market in 2020 was the high volumes in 2019, when sales of such equipment increased by about one and a half times. At the same time, in 2020, relative to 2019, the volume of the market under consideration increased by 40% in physical terms and by 10% in monetary terms. In addition, as experts note, if in the first half of 2020, relative to the same period in 2019, a significant decline in sales of document scanners was registered (by 33%), then in the second half of the year there was a 20% rise.

Russian scanner market ends 2020 in the red

ITResearch says that the Russian document scanner market is characterized by uneven sales, which is due to rather irregular deliveries of a large volume through tenders or with large corporate purchases at the end of the year. 2020 was no exception, and in the last quarter sales amounted to 20.8 thousand units, which is almost slightly less than half of annual sales.

If we talk about the so-called "regular" component of sales, reflecting the demand of users in the mass office, then it continued to show the demand for document scanners (the growth of this indicator in 2020 is estimated at 9%, which is higher than in 2019). At the same time, a significant increase in sales in such a category as portable document scanners (by 40% against 2019) clearly indicates their increased need for a home office under the influence of "remote."

Due to tender deliveries of document scanners, most of which belonged to the initial speed category, in 2020 the share of models with a performance of up to 30 pages per minute increased to almost 60%, including due to portable models falling into this speed range. Compared to the previous year, sales of high-performance streaming models also increased slightly, while the share of the sub-segment of document scanners for working groups (performance 31-60 pp./min) decreased.

In the Russian Federation, at the end of 2020, a decrease in sales of document scanners by 7.1% was recorded, to 46.7 thousand units

By the end of 2020, Avision, Canon and Epson were named the leaders of the Russian document scanner market, and Epson, HP Inc. and Panasonic were named in the segments of streaming (more productive and expensive) devices . Companies are listed in alphabetical order.

In terms of tablet scanner sales, Canon and Epson are leading. Sales of this equipment at the end of 2020 are not given, only the indicators of the fourth quarter are indicated - 8.7 thousand devices sold, which is 39% less than a year ago. In money, this segment sank a little less - by 36%, to $0.93 million, due to a slight increase in the average price of the scanner due to the weakening of the ruble against the dollar.

According to ITResearch, in the most mainstream applications, tablets have long been giving way to multifunctional printers, especially inkjet printers. Although most models of the latter lose to tablet scanners in terms of digitization quality, primarily resolution, a number of models of inkjet MFPs have a price advantage over them. Given the overall shift of scanning applications towards document processing, the loss in resolution turns out to be insignificant, since normal document digitization usually requires no more than 300-600 dpi.^[3]

2013

The analytical company ITResearch announced the results of 2013 on the Russian scanner market: unfortunately, disappointing. The dynamics of sales of both tablet and document scanners was negative. The former sold 191.6 thousand units, almost a quarter less than in 2012, and the losses of the latter turned out to be even more significant, about a third. In terms of the number of devices sold, a little more than 41 thousand units., The document scanner market rolled back to the level of 2011.

Notes