HP Technical DesignJet purchases by Market Sector (White Paper)

31 August 2022

Over the last couple of months we've analysed which printers are purchased by each market sector, for technical printers only, to see if we can draw any parallels.

 

Of course, this isn't a full picture as we've only taken a "small snapshot" covering the last few months therefore it doesn't take into account market anomolies or where models are on special offer which may sway purchasing or indeed if a printer has jumped up in price and the customer goes on to purchase a lower cost/spec model to keep costs low. It also doesn't cover where a customer has purchased a Z series graphics printer which are also hybrids as they can print technical drawings as well as graphics.

 

But what does it tell us about technical DesignJet purchases overall?

 

Home Users (Consumers)

 

Not unexpectedly, 40% of home users opt for the smallest A1 desktop T230 model, usually because it's a combination of being the lowest cost and also because it's really compact and can just sit on top of a desk, so it's great for space-saving reasons.

 

Then there is a healthy split of 20% for each of the next 2 models up (T250 A1 - 20% / T630 A1 - 20%). The T250 A1 provides home users with 2 years warranty (instead of just the 1 year provided with the T230) so it gives them greater peace of mind in terms of cost of future repairs. By comparison, the T630 A1 gives customers a larger 1GB memory (versus 512MB of the T2xx series).

 

This tells us the customers are keeping costs to a minimum and appear to be weighing up between either having 2 years warranty with the T250 OR opting for greater future-proofing by ordering the larger 1GB memory, provided with the T630. We can conclude, in this snapshot, that the customer is being frugal and ignoring the best of both worlds in terms of selecting the T650.

 

While 80% of home users/consumers require just A1 printing, a further 20% are found to have a requirement for A0 printing. Our figures show that our customers opted for the DesignJet T730 rather than the T630/T650 models. This is likely because the T730 usually has a trade-in deal for their old machine which brings down the overall price to be comparable to the T650 - but also because it is far superior in a number of ways, so it "gives" many extras as well i.e. it has a lower cost per copy, offers it's own LAN for remote printing, and is a more robust build as it's built to print twice the print volumes of either the T630/T650 series. 

 

AEC Sector (Architects, Engineers, Construction) Sector

For this sector, I'm going to break it down to cover the 3 sub sections as they each tell a different story:

 

Architects - sales for this sector were T230 A1 (18%), T630 A1 (18%), T650 A1 (9%), T650 A0 (9%), T730 A0 (18%), T830 A1 (28%). A large proportion (73%) of architects opted for A1 printers, with just 27% opting for A0 printer models. Of those, 73% purchased printers-only and 28% MFP's.  We can also see 18% of architects, possibly small practices or 1-man bands, purchasing the small A1 T230 model. Incidentally, this is one sector where we deal with a higher number of people who are of retirement age, but who enjoy keeping their 'hand in' and so purchase the entry-level model as the price point is critical.

 

A further 27% opted for the T6xx series with larger memory - of which 9% purchased the T650 A1 model which provides users with both a 2 years warranty and a larger memory. A large proportion of architects (28%) saw a requirement for scanning and have opted for the T830 A1 printer. 

 

For those requiring A0 prints, the T730 model was the "go-to" model (accounting for just over 18% of purchases made), whereas just 9% opted for the T650 - surprisingly none of them opted for the T830 A0 printer. We suspect the question being asked internally was whether they pay extra for A0, which wasn't used quite as often, or pay virtually the same amount for an A1 MFP all-singing and dancing model (print/scan/copy) and the MFP argument won. 

 

Engineers - The split between A1 and A0 purchasing showed 43% opted to purchase A1 but a greater percentage (57%) required A0 capability. This is quite different to architects. 

On the A1 front, 14% opted for the T230 - the 2 year warranty on the T250 wasn't a good enough draw for them. A greater number (29%) opted for the increased memory of the T630 A1 - again they weren't drawn to the T650 with 2 years warranty.

 

Unlike architects, none of the engineers in our data sample opted for an MFP - 100% of purchases were printer-only. In terms of A0 the T730 model was also the "go-to" model (accounting for 29% of purchases) with the T650 A0 trailing behind at 14%. In this sector we find that 14% of sales were for the larger T1600 model with 128GB memory + 500 GB self-encrypted hard disk. These are faster machines with greater levels of security and are often required now for Government contracts. As per the A1 category, our findings are they didn't opt for the A0 MFP. 

 

Construction - For this sector we see a wide spread of machines being purchased - 41% opted for A1 while 59% opted for A0. On the ground we hear some customers find A0 printing too large on-site and prefer A1 printing for better handling, but there is definitely a 60/40 divide in terms of A0 size being the preferred size within construction generally. 

 

On the A1 side the sales were: T230 A1 (9%), T250 A1 (2.5%), T630 A1 (9%), T650 A1 (11.5%), T830 A1 mfp (9%).

 

Here we can see 11.5% opted for the low-cost, small T2xx series but 20.5% preferred to have more memory and have the printer on its own stand and opted for the T6xx series. A further 9% wanted an A1 MFP to print/scan/copy which also offers cheaper inks and its own LAN and is a more robust option for site use. If we break these A1 model purchases down further:

 

- 75% of T230 A1 purchases were made from businesses such as landscapers/garden designers and tradespeople (such as plumbers, electricians etc which covers both 1 man bands and small businesses), and 25% from larger construction companies. The T250 was purchased by construction companies only.

- 75% of T630 A1 purchases were from larger businesses such as large construction companies/town planners and 25% were from individual tradespeople ...so we find the numbers swap over compared to the entry-level T230 above (as we'd expect).

- 40% of T650 A1 purchases were from larger businesses i.e. construction companies/town planners with the remaining 60% being a spread between interior designers (20%), groundworks (20%) and tradespeople (20%). Interestingly interior designers and groundworks only ever opted for the T650 A1 series within this dataset.

 

On the A0 size models, the sales for the construction sector were: T630 A0 (9%), T650 A0 (9%), T730 A0 (25%), T830mfp A0 (11.5%), T2600mfp A0 (4.5%). Here we see a total of 18% preferred to opt for the T6xx series compared with 25% for the T730 series so while the T730 remains the firm favourite overall for this market sector, a good proportion also opted for the T6xx series. Again, if we break this down further:

 

- 50% of T730 purchases were from the larger builders/construction companies (the other purchases of T730 were made from town planners, surveyors and landscapers/garden designers).

- when builders opt for the T2xx series it's often because the site office is too small to fit a larger printer in situ as space is often an issue.

- when builders opt for the T6xx series it's often because it works out a little cheaper if they don't have an old printer to trade-in (and on a building site the printers are often just classed as disposable, so they opt for a cheaper model which doesn't have the same longevity).

 

In this sector we also find a greater take-up of MFP models as well. Of the MFP models sold within the Construction industry, 64% are purchased by construction companies/developers/town planners/surveyors and 32% purchased by tradespeople (micro or small businesses).

 

Charities / Non-Profit

We only had a small number of charities purchase within the set of data, and they opted for a high-spec T1600 series. 

 

Education Sector

In the education sector there was a mix of nurseries, schools and colleges - we normally have universities buying large format printers in the mix, but in this particular dataset there weren't any (from experience they tend to opt for the highly versatile and hybrid technical/graphics models, where the Z6ps/Z9ps models are particularly popular - but sometimes they opt for smaller models with sheet feed such as the T650 series for students to use to print off their portfolios - the Z series isn't covered under this report).   For nurseries, schools and colleges we find that our data shows 75% opted for the T650 A1 model, while 25% opted for a high-spec T1600 series. For most, they kept their spend to a good solid T650 A1 model with 2 years warranty to reduce the future costs on breakdowns while matching their relatively low print volumes. For the 25% remaining most needed medium to high-volume printing so opted for the T1600 A0 series which gave them a large memory and increased security as well as a lower cost per print. 

 

Energy Sector

We only had a small number of businesses in the energy sector, who all opted for the T650 A1 model

 

Food Sector

Within the data we find that 50% opted for the T650 A0 model and 50% opted for the higher-spec T1600 A0 model. 

 

General Suppliers (goods) Sector

This was a general catch-all covering anyone supplying goods. What was noticeable was that NONE of them opted for the entry-level T2xx series. Instead, purchases were T630 A1 (31%), T650 A1 (15%), T650 A0 (15%), T830 A0 (31%), T1600 A0 (8%). So we see a reasonably even split of 46% requiring A1 printing and 54% requiring A0 printing. What is noticeable is that a larger percentage (61%) aren't doing high-volume printing and so opted for the T6xx series which is built for print volumes of around 50 prints per month. 39% however had higher print volume requirements (probably between 200-400 prints per month) and nearly a third of those required the capability to be able to print/scan/copy.

 

General Services Sector

This was a general catch-all, covering anyone who offered their services rather than supplying goods. In our limited data set, we find an even split across 4 key models - T650 A0 (25%), T730 A0 (25%), T830 A1 (25%), T830 A0 (25%). In this sector we also find that 75% required an A0 model versus 25% requiring A1. There is an equal split between purchasing a printer-only and printer/scanner/copier (MFP).  We suspect that when it came down to the T830 A1 mfp purchases, this was purchased possibly due to budget restrictions, as we know customers often weigh up whether to opt for the A0 model that they'd prefer - but wouldn't necessarily need all the time - versus having the capability of the print/scan/copy function which would ultimately prove more useful to them. It's likely that between 50%-75% had print volumes of around 100 prints per month and 25% had print volumes of around 50 prints per month based on those models selected.

 

Government Sector

For this sector, using our limited data set, we see an even 50/50 split between the T650 A1 and the T730 A0 models. (Pulling on data over a number of years, we do find there is a different picture where 20% opt for A1 and 80% opt for the high-end A0 models which offer greater security as we'd expect, with only 16% generally opting for the MFP).

For this data however, perhaps there were cuts in the budget(!) where it was a case of small print volumes 50-100 per month and where the customers opted simply between choosing an A1 or A0 printer. It's clear they did not consider the entry-level T2xx series (which is par for the course in this sector), and instead opted for the best small print volume model (T650 A1) and the best small-medium printer (T730 A0) where A0 was required. With more data we'd ordinarily see a number of T830s and T2600s and T1600 A0 purchases, as well as a few Z series purchases.

 

Healthcare Sector

For this sector we see a 50/50 split between a requirement for A1 and A0 printing, and another 50/50 split between the requirement for a printer versus MFP. The models purchased were T650 A1 (25%), T730 A0 (25%), T830 A1 (25%), T830 A0 (25%). From this data, we can conclude that printing in this sector generally doesn't involve high print volumes.

While the MFP figures are at 50% in this data set, historically we can see that it runs at around the 39% rate - but perhaps because the MFP models aren't that old it also means that the 39% rate is not accurate because had they been an option many years ago they may well have been purchased. Again, like the Government sector, they haven't opted for the lower-cost T2xx series at all, but the more expensive T650 series with a larger memory is their model of choice.  

 

IT Sector

Sales in this sector were as follows:  T230 A1 (6%), T630 A1 (6%), T630 A0 (6%), T650 A1 (11.5%), T730 A0 (58.5%), T830 A0 (12%). In this sector we see a split of 23.5% of customers requiring A1 and 76.5% requiring A0. Just 12% of all purchases are for an MFP. By far the favourite purchase (by a mile) is the T730 A0 model, followed by the T6xx series. When purchasing the T6xx series, customers often like to be able to auto-switch between roll and sheet feed and they have either low print volumes or no trade-in machine so the T6xx is their next best choice after the T730. The T730 is also a more robust printer with it's own local area network, combined with a lower cost per copy. The entry-level T230 is occasionally chosen for those who don't have the space for a printer so they can set it on top of the desk. 

 

Manufacturing Sector

Within manufacturing, we find that 90% of all sales were for A1 models - whereas only 10% required A0 capability.

The sales were: T230 A1 (20%), T250 A1 (20%), T650 A1 (30%), T730 A0 (10%), T830 A1 (20%).  We can also see that 1 in 5 companies wanted MFP capability to be able to print/scan/copy. Whether over the past few years manufacturing has suffered and needed to cut costs by purchasing entry-level T2xx models is hard to say but 40% opted for the T2xx series which is a fairly impressive number. We can assume partly that space was an issue and these are mostly sat on top of the desk and that there was no need for great print volumes. We then see a jump to the T650 series A0 (this includes a roll cover whereas the TT630 doesn't as standard), so we might presume that the dust content in the air may be sufficient to warrant the extra expense of the roll cover provided with the T650 - hence why the T630 series is probably passed over. 10% of manufacturers obviously need or expect to have a requirement for printing up to 100 prints per month, so have opted for the T730 A0 model which reduces their cost per print over and above the T6xx series.

 

Print Sector

As expected we see the top-end T2600ps mfp A0 model being purchased in this sector, due to the fact that these machines are meant for high print volumes, although typically in this market sector they also often purchase the hybrid Z6ps and Z9ps models (which aren't included in this report), as well as the T730, T830 mfp and T1600 models where scanning isn't required and perhaps print volumes aren't so high. 

 

Transportation Sector

 

Within this sector 100% of customers opted for A0 printing. When selecting a model this sector had a 50/50 split between the T730 A0 and the T830 A0 printer models. The print volumes generally fall somewhere between 100-200 prints per month, where 50% of customers also opted for an MFP for printing/scanning/copying.