This is an example of the power of the consumer.

We found a report today that in the first three months of this year more than $320 million dollars was spent on new printers. That’s more than $100 million a month!

Printer sales in China were up 4.1% from the same time last year, and these numbers do not include consumables such as ink, toner, and paper. It is reported that consumables provide up to two-thirds of printer market revenues. If that is the case, you can tack another $200 million plus on to that $320 million.

So, with all this buying going on, who was the big winner? Hewlett Packard. Just about 33% of the printers sold were manufactured by HP. Twenty-one percent of the market went to Epson and about 14% went to Canon. These percentages add up to 21 million printers being shipped in China in January, February, and March.

Amazingly enough, the Chinese really have no presence in the printer manufacturing business. They do, however, have a large presence in the consumables market, selling remanufactured and compatible inkjet cartridges.

Let’s end with one more staggering number. By 2010 it is expected that the money spent on laser printers alone will exceed $5 billion.

If you have any thoughts, let Pacific Ink know what you think.

(Thanks to Infomatics.com for the story)