Epson betting big on Ink Tank Inkjet Printers

Minoru Usui
President,
Seiko Epson Corporation, Japan

The Indian printing industry has made giant strides in recent times in improving its offerings in terms of print costs, technology and speed. Analyzing the market scenario in India, it has been found that there is a set of industry players which are growing systematically and regularly. Epson is one of those leaders of the Indian printing industry, which has earned a reputation as a visionary company with a commitment to developing technologies that enhance multiple aspects of people's lives.

With a turnover in excess of Rs.700 crore in India and growing at close-to 20% year on year, Epson has the distinction of having an impressive client portfolio for its imaging solutions. Minoru Usui, President, Seiko Epson Corporation, Japan throws some light on the company’s portfolio, its recent path-breaking offerings and market and channel strategies.  

Please tell us something about the evolving printer market in India. Also, throw some light on Epson’s position in the Indian market.

The Indian printer market is different from the markets like Europe and America. Indians are very conscious of the cost per print and therefore we are tweaking our business model to address this critical aspect. Epson is attempting to revolutionize the printer market in India by offering Inkjet printers with original Ink tank systems. One example of this is the L-series printers that are revolutionizing the printing landscape in India. Indian consumers told us that they want the freedom to print, without having to worry about high ink costs, the inconvenience of replacing cartridges and the environmental impact of lasers. L-series colour printers will meet these needs. We are making printing possible at 10 Paise a page for black and white and 20 Paise a page for colour. With each black ink bottle of ink, a person can print an amazing 4,000 pages. That was simply unheard of up till now. Please understand that only Epson, with its durable Micro Piezo technology, could create products like this.

Going forward, we will expand our lineup of L-series printers for India, and address an increasing range of printing applications. Following the L series, we have come out with the M series of monochrome inkjet printers. Our M-series printers can print at just one-third of the cost of refilled laser toners used in laser printers. Epson also understands that Indian corporates need printers that save electricity. When people think of office printing, they think of laser. We are here to change this. I am confident that the M-series printers will drive the shift from laser to inkjet printing. Thanks to the introductions of these products, we have a 31% and growing value share of the Inkjet printer market in India. Of course, in Dot-Matrix and POS printers, our market share is in excess of 50%.

What are the USPs and value adds that set Epson apart from its competitors?

Ans:  As far as technology is concerned, Epson has some core proprietary technologies that we use that set us apart from our competition. One of these is the Micro Piezo technology used in our Inkjet printers and another is 3LCD which is used in our projectors. Micro Piezo is proprietary piezoelectric technology that is used in the print heads of all Epson inkjet printers, which has made them renowned for their high- quality output and reliability, as well as low running cost. Using this technology, the amount of ink pulled into and expelled out of the nozzles can be very accurately controlled by varying the electrical charge given to the piezoelectric elements. This enables the print head to eject ink droplets in a range of precisely controlled sizes. The second proprietary technology created by us and used in our projectors is the 3LCD technology found in all Epson projectors. 3LCD  delivers unbelievably bright and natural colour, amazing detail and proven reliability.  3LCD was pioneered by Epson in the 1980s and the technology is being used worldwide for the ultimate viewing experience in projectors. Projectors based on 3LCD technology offer brighter colours, smoother gradations, equal white and colour light output, efficient power use and greater reliability.

Shed some light on the challenges that Epson is facing in an overcrowded low- budget printer market in India.

Ans: We found that, while consumers were paying a very low amount to buy an entry- level budget printer in India, they were not happy that they had to pay, what they perceived to be a high amount, for the ink cartridges. Which is why they preferred to use non-genuine and refill cartridges, even though they were not happy with the poor quality of prints and the fact that they were sometimes damaging their printers. Epson decided to correct this and we believe that original Ink tank printers are the right solution for the Indian market, where the customers can have all the benefits of having a low-cost printer. By giving a genuine ink-tank directly from the company, we are ensuring the quality, quantity, reliability and the ease of operation. We are completely redefining the value offering to the customer.

How much market share Epson is targeting with its latest offerings in the Indian market?

Last year, Epson captured 21% market share in the inkjet printer market. Today, the market share is about 31%. It means that, in about a year, we have gained 10% in terms of revenue market share. Furthermore, the latest M-series mono Ink Tank Inkjet printers will be competing against the mono Laser market. We believe this product has huge potential because of its advantages compared to laser. However, if we can secure even a small share of this market in the short term, it will be a significant number for us.

What have you planned for the channel?

Epson has always been a channel-friendly company. If you look at the current scenario, we have 196 channel partners across the country. We have always ensured that the channel’s interests are on top of our priority list. We run various programmes to ensure that this happens. Till last year, we were running the nDimension and nSolution partner programmes, which had been designed significantly for channel and SI education. We constantly keep them updated about our product offerings and we also enable them to know about our products in detail so that they become ready to reach out to the end-customers with complete product information. Thus, we are just exceeding our customer’s expectations by delivering the right product to the right customer. In future also, we will continue with such programmes for our channel partners with various motivational schemes.

 

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