Most trusted printer brands for South African businesses

MyBroadband’s business technology survey revealed that HP, Canon, and Brother are the most trusted printer brands among South Africa’s business decision-makers.

The survey was completed by 783 respondents. Only responses from executives and managers who decide which ICT products their companies buy were considered.

The results revealed that HP is the most trusted printer brand among South African businesses, with 32% of the vote.

HP was formed on 1 November 2015 as the successor of the original Hewlett-Packard after its enterprise and business services divisions were spun off as HPE.

It is well-known in the printing sector for its DeskJet, OfficeJet, and LaserJet series of printers. It generates billions in revenue from commercial printers and supplies.

In November 2017, HP expanded its strong presence in the printer market when it acquired Samsung Electronics’ printer division for $1.05 billion.

In South Africa, HP is the dominant name in the printer market, which is shown in the latest survey results.

Canon, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is also well-known for its excellent scanners, copiers, and printers.

Canon introduced their Inkjet printer using bubble-jet technology in 1985, one year after Hewlett-Packard.

For many years, Canon was the principal maker of the print engines found in industry-standard laser printers.

It strengthened its presence in the printer market in 2010 when it acquired Dutch printer maker Océ.

Following this acquisition, Canon continued to develop and manufacture printing systems, initially under the Océ brand. In 2020, the Océ was renamed Canon Production Printing.

Canon has built a strong presence in the South African business market as a leading provider of inkjet and professional printers for companies.

Brother is another Japanese multinational with a strong presence in the South African printer and multifunction printer sector.

In South Africa, Brother offers companies a range of multifunction printers, scanners, and label printers.

Brother International South Africa was established in 1970 and manages an extensive network of distributors in the country.

On the other end of the scale, Ricoh, Konica Minolta, and Lexmark have poor brand awareness among South African business decision-makers.

The chart below shows the most trusted printer brands among South African businesses.

Although digital communication has revolutionised the business sector, South African businesses will continue to require printers in the foreseeable future.

According to research by Mordor Intelligence, the global printer market’s value is expected to grow from $54.35 billion (R1.01 trillion) in 2024 to $67.88 billion (R1.26 trillion) by 2029.

That results in a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.55% and shows that printing is still a growing industry.

Major growth catalysts for the market include the rise in mobile printing, growing demand for colour and packaging printing, and the need for cloud-based solutions.

Brother South Africa’s general manager for sales and marketing, Dale Fourie, said they still see opportunities in specific market segments.

These include ink tank printers for small-to-medium businesses. Corporate customers are also trending away from mono laser print requirements to colour laser.

There are many reasons why South African businesses will continue printing documents.

Firstly, having hard copies as backup provides an extra line of defence against data getting lost due to cloud storage glitches and cyberattacks.

Secondly, there may be legal requirements to retain and provide hard copies of important documents like contracts and payslips.

“Legal, healthcare, banking and logistics are all corporate industries that will continue printing and then we also have a big small-to-medium business base,” Fourie said.

Thirdly, printing will remain popular in developing markets where infrastructure and interactions with customers without facilities to digital devices remain a challenge.

In South Africa, many people have limited access to computers and the Internet, with smartphones being the primary way to access online services.

Opening, reading, and storing documents on a small-screen device can be a headache.

A physical brochure, catalogue, or form for recording interest in a product is much more reading-friendly and could increase the likelihood of making a sale.

Lastly, several studies have shown that information retention is better when reading text on paper than when reading text on a screen.