In an unexpected turn of statistics, in 2007, the laser printer market’s share has just gone miles up over and above its competing technology inkjet. In both single functional and multifunctional laser market its share has been more than just double. This has happened in just past few years. With increasing affordability in the class B&C cities along with growing acceptance of laser printers amongst SOHOs, micro business and SMBs have spurred this growth. The score card is that aser technology enjoys 38 per cent of the total Rs.1,558-crore standalone printer market, whereas in the MFD segment it is 40 per cent out of Rs.1,650-crore market.
The vendors, who have played the leading role in this space, include HP, Samsung, Canon, Xerox, Toshiba, Konika Minolta, WEP Peripherals, Lexmark, etc. Epson who was very aggressive a year back has taken backstage.
In this technology, HP is the biggest player with the complete range of products starting from standalone to multifunctional (MFD) and MFD colour. From the company sources, HP has shipped its 100 millionth laser printer in 2006. This means that one HP LaserJet has been sold every four seconds for the past 22 years! According to the latest IDC report, HP has a market share of 70%-plus in the laser printer market in India.
HP is also a market leader in the colour laser segment with a market share of 90 per cent (IDC) and has been aggressively propagating the use of colour. HP’s new Color LaserJet printer series feature easy-to-use and path-breaking administrative features like the HP Universal Print Driver, Web Jet admin and Color Access Control enabling IT managers to efficiently control and monitor their printing environment and costs.Similarly, Canon is another big player with a wide range of products. In the past few months, we have launched three new laser printers, namely, LBP 5960, LBP 5360 and LBP 5300. V. P. Sajeevan, Assistant Director, Consumer Systems Products, Canon India, says, “We are now re-enforcing our focus on the laser colour category by introducing an innovative initiative called ‘Laser Edge’ to educate our channel partners on the advantages of laser products.”
Canon has engaged itself with 41 retail chains across the country, which comprise of 13 national retail chains and 28 city chains. In addition, the company has engaged itself with 416 retail outlets, including 320 IT Imaging Zones, 54 Digiclick Zones, 6 Digic Video Zones, 4 Canon X’perience and 32 Canon Care Centres. Canon’s engagement with retail chains include Hypercity, Croma, Metro, E–zone, Next, Sahara. Essar, Bangalore Central and city retail chains like Viveks in Chennai, Vijay Sales in Mumbai, and Zoom in Kolkata, among others. We have more than 2,500 secondary partners (IT resellers) across the countries, who are selling Canon printers. The company also has working with HCL, Wipro, etc. Canon does not have a national distribution structure. Rather, it works with Canon Premium Partners (CPPs), which are regional in nature and below them are the dealers, which Canon calls Canon Empowered Partners (CEPs). In order to encourage these partners, Canon runs different programmes. This year, Canon launched two reward programmes for high-performing Canon Premium Partners (CPPs), for Canon Empowered Partners (CEPs) and also for the CPP salespersons, namely, “Laser Edge”, “Fly with Canon” and “Laser Champ”. According to Sajeevan, these are the first-ever reward programmes focussed on laser printers, which have been introduced by Canon considering the growth potential in this segment. The laser printer category is of key importance and the focus on this area is pivotal. The introduction of these schemes exemplifies Canon’s consistent focus and endeavours in this category.
Recently, to augment knowledge about the printer technologies of the partners, Canon organized a special programme called the “Gyan Yatra”. Sajeevan adds, “We organize training for sales, services and soft skills for our partners and develop training on: customer handling skills, handling telephone calls, handling difficult customers, etc. All these trainings are held on a regionalized basis to understand the needs of the customers locally and provide the necessary training at these locations.”
Today, Lexmark does not have a physical presence in India, but its national distributor Cyberstar has taken the onus of making it popular in the country. Lexmark offers a wide range of Laser Printers and Multifunctional Printers (MFPs).
According to Raj Rathi, Managing Director, Cyberstar India, “With a range of built-in colour cost-saving features and an intuitive operator panel, Lexmark laser printers seamlessly integrate into any existing network
