This Week in Imaging: DX Market Will Dwarf Copier-Printer Market – and Soon

by Kathleen Wirth · November 10, 2023

This week, one thing struck us while writing about the latest financial results for Fujifilm Business Innovation (previously known as Fuji Xerox). While revenue was down 3.7 percent for Business Innovation’s Office Solutions segment that provides office printers and multifunction printers, it was up 9.8 percent for the Business Solutions segment that provides digital-transformation (DX) software and solutions. However, revenue for Office Solutions at ¥257.1 billion ($1.70 billion) was much higher than revenue for Business Solutions ( ¥144.4 billion, or $957.05 million). But the key appears to be that Business Solutions’ DX revenue is growing at a much faster rate.

Another copier company that’s also banking on DX is of course Ricoh, which is aiming for DX revenue to make up about 60 percent of its revenue in a few years.

(In general, we can DX solutions as business processes that supplant paper-based processes with ones that are electronic, such as electronically filing forms, storing and accessing documents online, communicating and transferring documents and information electronically, etc.)

Growing DX Global Market

According to Industry Research and Forecasts, the global copier market is forecast to be about $790.3 million by 2028 with a compound annual growth rate of 2.1 percent. Statista, which includes both printers and copiers, forecasts $10.1 billion by 2028.

However, according to IDC, all of this will be dwarfed by the global DX market: according to IDC’s latest research, the global DX market will reach $3.9 trillion in 2027, with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.1 percent.

That said, we believe that while DX will increasingly take a bigger and bigger slice of the business-process pie, paper, because of its easy portability and convenience, will still have a role for many years to come.

This Week in Imaging

Financial News

Fujifilm Reports Record Revenue and Profit for Second Quarter, Strong First Half Results

Profit Slides in Ricoh’s Second Quarter, But Revenue Up for Quarter and First Half

Sharp Posts Profit for First Time in Five Quarters

Brother’s Printing and Solutions Business Sees Sharp Improvement for First Half

New Ricoh Venture Capital Fund to Advance Digital Services

Market Research and Reports

Global Digital Transformation Spending to Reach $3.9 Trillion by 2027

3D Printing

HP Showcases 3D-Printing Tech at Formnext, Strategy for Advancing Metal 3D Printing

Acquisitions