 Market Focus
Adding Color to Printing
Despite several initiatives by printer vendors, color printing in office hasn’t taken off in India. But vendors are hopeful
By Sharmee Roy
Adoption of color printing in office is expected to increase at a fast pace according to printer
companies.
Opines Samir Shah, Director, Laserjet and Enterprise Solutions, Imaging and Printing Group, HP India, “We have seen the adoption rate for color printing pick up over the last several months and it is expected to grow at a faster pace in the coming months.”
According to Shah, there is a distinct realization among small and medium businesses about the virtues of in-house color printing and this is what is fueling demand. “Earlier SMBs preferred to outsource their color printing needs, but with increased focused on marketing and the reducing cost of color printing, they increasingly prefer in-house printing. It’s a proven fact that in-house color printing is more cost-effective, especially for short-run collaterals. It also prevents wastage,” he adds.
Agrees VP Sanjeevan, Assistant Director, CSP, Canon India, “With networked color MFPs available below the Rs 50,000 mark, color printing is no longer exclusive to the publishing industry. Even the per-page cost of color printing has come down drastically.”
Till a few years back, equipment costs, running costs and network bandwidth issues played deterrents in the proliferation of color devices. The cost of color equipment was four times the cost of black and white, while the running cost of a color device was 20 times that of a black and white device.
Also color printers (even lasers) took a lot of time to print making it unviable for office use. But today color printing has come a long way in terms of the printing efficiency.
Canon’s Sajeevan informs, “Color prints were known to clog the network 25 times more than black and white prints. Today, the scenario has improved significantly.”
Adds Shah, “The other reason for increasing adoption of color printers among enterprises is because of the security features added by vendors, which allow user-based access to prevent misuse within office. Many of the customers are investing in color printing solutions with access control features.”
Growth in color printing in enterprise has also been vertical driven. Industry verticals like entertainment, retail, and BFSI are increasingly using in-house color printing.
Vendor strategy
In addition to offering better printing technologies, vendors are also working on their marketing and promotional strategies to further boost the demand.
Canon is investing heavily in organizing partner training programs to keep them abreast of the latest technology. The vendor plans to focus on tier-2 cities in order to capture a larger market share.
“In 2009, our major thrust is on the laser color printer category. For this we have carved a regional strategy to tap latent demand. We expect color lasers to constitute 40 percent of our total laser printers shipments. Already, Canon has 30 percent share of the color laser market which we plan to increase this year,” claims Sajeevan.
HP too is conducting aggressive marketing campaign to drive demand for color printers. It recently held multi-city channel meets to showcase its new range of color laser MFPs and inkjets. It is also closely working with customers in select verticals to educate them on how color printing can make a difference to their business. The company has set up up demo zones in 16 cities to showcase color printing solutions.
Challenges
While color is finding acceptance, there still exits some negative perceptions especially among SMBs. HP’s Shah believes that if the wrong perceptions are cleared, the market would grow faster.
“The perceived notion that cost of color printing is exorbitant continues among many companies despite the significant drop in the TCO of the technology over the past couple of years. Channels need to go out and make these customers understand the real value of in-house color printing. They need to demonstrate to companies by sharing TCO figures that show that in the long-run in-house color printing is more cost-effective compared to outsourcing.”
Another concern area for SMBs is maintenance and replacing supplies. Companies without a dedicated IT team usually look at color printers as a hassle because of the maintenance costs attached.
Furthermore, replacing the supplies is also an issue, owing to the perception that originals work out to be more expensive than refills. It is an area of concern that needs immediate attention so that the growth of color printer isn’t arrested.
The channel can help smaller companies maintain their office printers. They can also help customers understand the benefits of using original over refills. This will drive growth for color printing and open up new opportunities for partners. |