Epson India targets growth of 13% in inkjet printer sales

Epson India Private Limited, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Epson Singapore Pte Limited, expects its sales of inkjet printers to cross 1.3 lakh units by the end of the current fiscal. The company sold 1.15 lakh units of inkjet printers last fiscal.

Epson currently has a market share of around 24 per cent in the inkjet category, which is expected to grow to around 28 per cent by the end of this fiscal. The three big players in the Indian inkjet market "" Epson, Canon and HP "" among themselves sold five lakh units in 2003-04, which is expected to increase to six lakh units in 2004-05.

Speaking to Business Standard, Suresh Govindachari, senior manager (inkjet printer and LFP) of Epson India Private Limited said, "Epson has doubled its market share over the last two years. Three years back, we had a market share of only 10 per cent and with continuous development of our product portfolio we have been able to increase the market share."

"Apart from the inkjet printers segment, the company also expects the inkjet all-in-ones, also called SPCs (scanner-printer-copiers), to contribute to the growth of the company," he added.

In the SPC segment, the company sold only 500 units last year, which is expected to increase to around 15,000 units this year.

To capture a greater share of the SPC segment, Epson India is launching its new range of SPCs in three models "" Epson Stylux CX 1500, an entry-level SPC targeted at the home segment, Epson Stylux CX 4500 to cater to the corporate segment, and Stylux Photo RX 630, which is targeted at the professional photo segment. The three models are priced at Rs 4,995, Rs 7,995 and Rs 21,295 respectively.

"The SPC segment is important for Epson. We expect to sell significant numbers of the new range of models and consequently increase our market share in this category," Govindachari said.

The company is looking at investing Rs 1 crore on promotional activities, which include advertising, retail initiatives, promotions and roadshows.

The company has, across the country, three distributors having 25 branches each. Epson is also focusing on increasing its retail network. Govindachari said that by March 2005, the company would have 300 retailers on board as compared to the current 90 retailers.

In Andhra Pradesh, Epson has 10 dealers and re-sellers. The company, which has 12 retail outlets in the state, expects to add another 13 outlets by the end of March 2005.

The company has 167 service centres across the country out of which 18 are in the state.

Govindachari said that the company plans to launch an eight-colour printer called the R-800 next month. "R-800 is the first of its kind in India. The printer will have transparent ink which is called the glossier ink and will be helpful in getting rich outputs," he said.

The company has not yet decided on the exact price but it is expected to be upwards of Rs 22,000.