Are you thinking about buying your first 3D printer—or perhaps even another? Whether you are shopping for the home, a school lab, or the office, it’s extremely important to have all the pertinent information available at your fingertips. And while most designers and creative types are certainly not ones to ‘follow,’ there’s no denying that when it comes to consumer issues, it’s always nice to be able to a look at popular trends. This is about buying a functional tool, not making a fashion statement. So am I interested in which 3D printers the world is buying online? Absolutely. And thanks to JeeQ Data, we get to take a look at what the Joneses are buying online each quarter.
For the first quarter of this year, online 3D printer sales via Best Buy and Amazon showed manufacturers like Robo 3D, XYZprinting, and FlashForge firmly in the lead, with 3D printing pens having taken a backseat from the prior quarter at Amazon—but reappearing in full force now.
Looking at results from the Top 20 Best Selling 3D Printers from BestBuy.com, the top five sees a major jump for the New Matter Mod-t 3D printer, modestly priced at $399, and said to be one of the best machines for those just buying their first machine. This jump toppled the (discontinued) 3D Systems Cube Wireless down a notch, with all of the same manufacturers falling into line from there, after allowing for the taking of spots 9-12 by XYZprinting with a variety of printers ranging in price from $399-$799—and reflecting exactly what we would expect as we’ve been keeping an eye on this extremely prolific and popular company from Taiwan, just having announced more new releases. The Afinia H800 3D printer makes an appearance at #19, and the Monoprice Maker Select 3D printer has been knocked out of the showing this month at Best Buy.
As for the ‘Top Ten Best Seller Appearance Share by Manufacturer’ for BestBuy.com, once again you don’t need to look past XYZprinting, garnering 35% of the market share, with 3D Systems up quite a bit from 12.61% last month to 20.11% this month. Robo 3D and Dremel remained fairly static, although we do see that New Matter is up over HP this month at 8.68%. In best-selling trends, XYZprinting far and away sails over the rest of the competition, with 3D Systems next as a substantial player on the chart. Below that are some of that same companies, quite neck in neck, from Robo 3D to Solidoodle (which has suspended operations), and even Mattel—intent on making an entry into the 3D printing market.
Top 20 Best Selling 3D Printers from Amazon shows quite the shocker in #1, as this month the Glyby Intelligent 3D Printing Pen has risen all the way from #12. Retailing at $89.99, this shows again that the online marketplace is mighty popular with those ordering 3D printing pens.
Accessories for pens even come into play at second place, with 3D Pen filament refills. The Robo 3D fell substantially, all the way to 13, with a new 3D printer appearing in the top five: the QIDI Tech 1, listing at $600 from the Chinese manufacturer. And while the Monoprice may have fallen out of the loop at Best Buy, we now see it at #8 in the Amazon realm. JeeQ Data points out that the Hictop Filament Monitor Desktop 3D Printer Prusa I3 DIY Kit, another product from China, is in the #19 spot, at a listing price of $599.
And again, it’s always interesting to compare the ‘Top Ten Best Seller Appearance Share by Manufacturer’ for Amazon, as the picture is so different—and much more dominated by the arts and crafts crowd. For the second quarter, FlashForge (13.37%) and 7Tech (8.18%) are joined by more 3D printing pen and materials companies such as JoyCrafty and 3D Artist Supply.
Trends show FlashForge soaring ahead of the competitors recently, with 3D printing pens and supplies lumped together, such as 7Tech, Glyby, JoyCrafty, 3D Artist Supply—and then finally we start to see the 3D printing manufacturers such as XYZprinting and LulzBot in the Amazon quarterly trends. It’s interesting to see the varying movement as well as some newcomers this quarter—along with the revelation that perhaps we need to look into some more of these 3D printing pens. And if you want one, Amazon is certainly the place to go.
Do you want to track current trends in the 3D printing industry? If so, you can sign up for your own account at JeeQ–or just check back with 3DPrint.com, when we review the next quarter’s information.