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A commonly expressed view nowadays is that social media such as Facebook and Orkut has reduced the use of photo printers in the home segment. Vendors and partners however, tell a different story—that they are witnessing increase in the demand by 10-15 percent.
Says Ramprasad SM, Business Manager, Consumer Product Group, Epson India, “In our internal survey we saw a rise in the photo printing segment to the tune of 10-15 percent after social media gained popularity in the last 1-2 years. We have found that photographs of family and friends that are posted online are printed and framed to be kept at home or in the office. Also, despite the popularity of filling forms online, consumers keep a backup in the form of a hard copy at home.”
Agrees Sandeep Bothra, Proprietor, Jupiter Infology, a Guwahati-based sub-distributor, “Social media was already popular during the last two years, and if they were to reduce printer sales in the home segment my numbers would not have increased by 100 percent. I think home consumers have increased their use of photo printers in the last year and a half. Earlier, I used to sell 150 entry-level photo printers every month—now I sell 300.”
Social platforms like Facebook, Flickr and Picasa have led to an explosion in both the creation and sharing of digital content, including photographs, says R Manikandan, Director, Inkjet & Web Solutions, HP IPG. “This digital explosion has increased the demand for printing as people do not want to limit their digital images to only friends or family members who are online and connected over social platforms. They want to leverage these images in creative ways; for example, by printing collages on T-shirts. A color inkjet printer allows them to indulge in these pursuits.”
Another trend is the use of laser printers by the home segment. “The reason why lasers are getting popular in the home segment is that they come with large toner capacity, thus reducing the cost per page,” explains Chirag Talwar, Partner, Creative Computers, a Dehradun-based sub-distributor.
Besides, the laser printer’s ability to print in volumes, as well as its higher lifespan and speed, is making it popular among SOHOs and home users. “We have observed a unit-wise increase of 20-25 percent in laser printers for the home and SOHO segment; the value-wise increment has been around 20-30 percent,” informs Sandeep Samaiya, Partner, Info Solutions, a Jabalpur-based reseller.
“Users have started taking entry-level laser printers home,” adds Bothra. “The reason could be that consumers are getting more value-conscious, and home users with greater printing requirements are therefore opting for laser printers. Of late I have started selling 8-10 laser printers on an average per month to home users.”
Vendors such as HP and Canon say they have not yet seen significant demand for lasers in the home segment, but concede that laser printers are moving into homes that have large printing requirements—which was not the case a year and a half ago.
Also, while the demand for single-function inkjet printers is falling, multi-function printers (MFPs) are witnessing a 70 percent rise in demand. “The demand for single function printers will gradually end except for some specialized printer requirements,” Ramprasad says.
According to a recent Gartner report, the combined sales of serial inkjet and page printers, copiers and MFPs in India was an estimated 6,81,142 units in Q42010, a 10 percent increase from Q42009; HP remained the market leader during this period.
Factors such as the growing adoption of smartphones and tablets are also pushing printer sales, and vendors like HP and Canon have come out with e-printing solutions. “Consumers today are becoming increasingly mobile; they could be at any location but still want access to information, to the Web, to their email,” points out Manikandan. “It is very difficult to print a hard copy of a document when we are mobile, but HP’s latest range of inkjet and laser printers features e-print capability which allows users to print from any mobile device over the Internet. Our research suggests that 85 percent of smartphone users want to print easily, and iPad users said that they missed the printing function in their device. We see this as a huge opportunity ahead of us.”
Seeing price-conscious consumers who are shifting to printing options with lower costs, vendors have come out with revised prices of consumables. “In the preceding 12 months we have introduced a new portfolio of low-priced inkjet printers, with cartridges priced at Rs425 for the home segment,” Manikandan informs. Other vendo such as Canon and Epson also have low-priced cartridges; Epson has cartridges available for Rs260.
With the aggressive marketing strategies of the players and the lowering of prices, the MFP market is expected to reach new heights.
source : crn
Says Ramprasad SM, Business Manager, Consumer Product Group, Epson India, “In our internal survey we saw a rise in the photo printing segment to the tune of 10-15 percent after social media gained popularity in the last 1-2 years. We have found that photographs of family and friends that are posted online are printed and framed to be kept at home or in the office. Also, despite the popularity of filling forms online, consumers keep a backup in the form of a hard copy at home.”
Agrees Sandeep Bothra, Proprietor, Jupiter Infology, a Guwahati-based sub-distributor, “Social media was already popular during the last two years, and if they were to reduce printer sales in the home segment my numbers would not have increased by 100 percent. I think home consumers have increased their use of photo printers in the last year and a half. Earlier, I used to sell 150 entry-level photo printers every month—now I sell 300.”
Social platforms like Facebook, Flickr and Picasa have led to an explosion in both the creation and sharing of digital content, including photographs, says R Manikandan, Director, Inkjet & Web Solutions, HP IPG. “This digital explosion has increased the demand for printing as people do not want to limit their digital images to only friends or family members who are online and connected over social platforms. They want to leverage these images in creative ways; for example, by printing collages on T-shirts. A color inkjet printer allows them to indulge in these pursuits.”
Another trend is the use of laser printers by the home segment. “The reason why lasers are getting popular in the home segment is that they come with large toner capacity, thus reducing the cost per page,” explains Chirag Talwar, Partner, Creative Computers, a Dehradun-based sub-distributor.
Besides, the laser printer’s ability to print in volumes, as well as its higher lifespan and speed, is making it popular among SOHOs and home users. “We have observed a unit-wise increase of 20-25 percent in laser printers for the home and SOHO segment; the value-wise increment has been around 20-30 percent,” informs Sandeep Samaiya, Partner, Info Solutions, a Jabalpur-based reseller.
“Users have started taking entry-level laser printers home,” adds Bothra. “The reason could be that consumers are getting more value-conscious, and home users with greater printing requirements are therefore opting for laser printers. Of late I have started selling 8-10 laser printers on an average per month to home users.”
Vendors such as HP and Canon say they have not yet seen significant demand for lasers in the home segment, but concede that laser printers are moving into homes that have large printing requirements—which was not the case a year and a half ago.
Also, while the demand for single-function inkjet printers is falling, multi-function printers (MFPs) are witnessing a 70 percent rise in demand. “The demand for single function printers will gradually end except for some specialized printer requirements,” Ramprasad says.
According to a recent Gartner report, the combined sales of serial inkjet and page printers, copiers and MFPs in India was an estimated 6,81,142 units in Q42010, a 10 percent increase from Q42009; HP remained the market leader during this period.
Factors such as the growing adoption of smartphones and tablets are also pushing printer sales, and vendors like HP and Canon have come out with e-printing solutions. “Consumers today are becoming increasingly mobile; they could be at any location but still want access to information, to the Web, to their email,” points out Manikandan. “It is very difficult to print a hard copy of a document when we are mobile, but HP’s latest range of inkjet and laser printers features e-print capability which allows users to print from any mobile device over the Internet. Our research suggests that 85 percent of smartphone users want to print easily, and iPad users said that they missed the printing function in their device. We see this as a huge opportunity ahead of us.”
Seeing price-conscious consumers who are shifting to printing options with lower costs, vendors have come out with revised prices of consumables. “In the preceding 12 months we have introduced a new portfolio of low-priced inkjet printers, with cartridges priced at Rs425 for the home segment,” Manikandan informs. Other vendo such as Canon and Epson also have low-priced cartridges; Epson has cartridges available for Rs260.
With the aggressive marketing strategies of the players and the lowering of prices, the MFP market is expected to reach new heights.
source : crn
