The Global Market for Handheld Barcode Scanners

INSIDE THIS REPORT:

This report provides a detailed analysis of the key strategic issues, trends and drivers for handheld barcode scanners, including 2D imagers, linear imagers (CCD scanners) and laser scanners. The research provides detailed analysis by geography, industry, distribution channel and scanner technology with detailed five-year forecasts. Our analyst research and commentary covers global and regional market forces, technology trends, growth opportunities and in-depth intelligence on over a dozen leading vendors of handheld barcode scanners.

WHAT QUESTIONS ARE ADDRESSED?

• What is the new basis of competition in the handheld industry? What is the forecast for post-pandemic growth, and what are the underlying drivers?
• How do vendors need to formulate product and market development to compete in this highly commoditized industry?
• How will traditional vertical markets and geographical regions perform in the near- and long-term for handheld barcode offerings?
• What are the changing verticals for handhelds? How are handhelds marketed in conjunction with other technologies, such as emerging wearables?
• Who and the leading and emerging handheld scanner vendors and how are they competing?
• What impact is software-based scanning and other data collection technologies such as RFID having on the handheld scanner market?

WHO SHOULD READ THIS REPORT?

This annual research has been carefully designed for senior managers and executives at barcode technology and solution provider companies, especially individuals in the following roles:

• CEOs and supporting C-level management
• Corporate development and M&A professionals
• Product Management and Marketing professionals
• Strategic Directors and Marketing Communications managers
• Business development and sales
• Channel developers and managers
• Senior management of leading retailers

VENDORS COVERED IN THIS REPORT:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Following several years of volatile performance - driven in part by the impact of the pandemic, supply chain constraints, inflationary pricing and shifts in demand by sector - the market is projected to normalize and transition to a more predictable growth pattern. Near term, the market will need to work through issues related to channel over-stock and continued pricing volatility. In addition, challenges from alternative form factors (such as wearable scanners) and the growing presence of SW-based scanning that leverages cameras in smart mobile devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) could erode some of the opportunity traditionally supported by purpose-built handheld scanners.

KEY FINDINGS:

Channel overstock is slowing near-term sales: Following a generally strong Q1 2023, leading vendors are expecting softening demand patterns through the end of the year due in part to overstocking of products among channel partners. Distribution partners accumulated high stocks during the pandemic and post-pandemic period when they filled backlogged orders. The market will take some time to absorb the products that have been shipped to distributors and partners. VDC expects this issue to subside by the first half of 2024.

Healthcare as a growth market: While the healthcare sector has shown consistent historical demand for handheld scanners, opportunities in this sector have increased substantially over the past couple of years. This is especially evident in North America where healthcare is the third largest market for handheld scanners, behind retail and manufacturing. Demand in the healthcare sector is also characterized by higher value and more specialized solutions, including the need for specialized plastics that resist the disinfectants used in healthcare settings.

Differentiation beyond the scanner: With the transition to 2D scanners largely complete (from legacy laser scanners and linear imagers), OEMs are looking for alternative options to competitively differentiate their portfolios. Some of this will be designing scanners for specialized use cases - such as healthcare scanners that can tolerate disinfectants or ruggedized scanners for industrial use cases. In addition, OEMs have been investing more in software utilities for customers to support and manage their scanner fleets. They are also leveraging the scan engine's capabilities to support more sophisticated data capture applications, such as scanning multiple codes simultaneously, identifying the correct symbology to decode or supporting OCR and other image capture and image processing capabilities.

Shifting competitive landscape: While the top three global handheld scanner OEMs (Zebra, Honeywell and Datalogic) are well positioned with a differentiated product portfolio and strong partner networks, the competitive landscape is changing. The emergence of cost-competitive products from vendors in Asia continues, although several rely on the leading OEMs to source scan engines. In addition, alternative form factors are challenging some traditional handheld scanner use cases. In logistics environments, for example, the use of glove or top of hand scanners have become especially popular, providing a more ergonomic and seamless option for scan-intensive applications that benefit hands-free operations. In addition, the performance of software-based scanning solutions continues to improve, challenging the dedicated scan engine status quo (although this is more of a challenge to mobile computers with integrated scanners).

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Andy Adelson

Currently serving VDC's AutoID & Data Capture practice, Andy Adelson has spent his career as an analyst, consultant and research expert. During the first half of his career, Andy excelled as an IT industry analyst, covering several technologies which were precursors and adjacent to AI&DC. He has provided continuous syndicated services, plus consults to clients for their more complex challenges. During the past decade, Andrew held executive sales and management roles with research and insights providers. Andy also serves on the Board of the New England chapter of The Insights Association, the largest US trade association for research professionals. Andy earned an MBA from Babson in Marketing, and a BA from the University of Michigan in English and Economics.

Richa Gupta

Richa is a Consultant working for VDC's AutoID & Data Capture practice. She has been tracking the markets for a range of AIDC technologies at VDC since 2010, including, but not limited to, barcode scanners and printers, labeling solutions, machine vision solutions, and robotics automation. Over the years, she has undertaken market opportunity sizing and forecasting, competitive landscape analysis, and offered strategic marketing assistance, while also providing valuable thought leadership for this technology segment. Richa holds a degree in Computer Engineering and an MBA from India.

David Krebs

David has more than twenty years' experience covering enterprise and government mobility solutions, wireless infrastructure and automatic identification and data capture technologies. David's research focuses on the intersection of digital and mobile solutions with today's business and mission critical frontline mobile workforce and how organizations are leveraging mobile solutions to improve workforce productivity and enhance customer engagement. David's consulting and strategic advisory experience is far reawching and includes technology and market opportunity assessments, technology penetration and adoption analysis, product and service development and M&A due diligence support. David has extensive primary market research management and execution experience to support market sizing and forecasting, total cost of ownership (TCO), comparative product performance evaluation, competitive benchmarking and end user requirements analysis. David is a graduate of Boston University (BSBA).