Page 14 - BOSS Today Issue 45

BOSS Today #45 SPECIAL FEATURE

WELCOME

ABOARD THE

ROLLERCOASTER!

BOSS Today looks at the current and future issues driving the printer cartridge sector.

ife has certainly been a rollercoaster energy efficient devices, secure printers No wonder, then, that in MWA/OPI’s
Lfor the printer cartridge market: during that comply with GDPR when printing latest State Of The Industry report,
the 1990s and early 2000s, demand for sensitive documents, and ‘Ink Tank’ as many as 71% of UK respondents
printer cartridges rose sharply, with printers from Epson, Canon, Brother reported that Printer/IT Consumables &
this category eventually accounting for and HP that come with a years’ worth Accessories were amongst their top five
nearly half of the UK office products (OP) of ink and are easily refilled. The use of product categories in decline in 2018.
market – and of many OP dealers’ sales. smart compatible devices (eg Alexa or
However, in recent years, the installed Google) that can print out end-users’ Alternative Action
base of desktop printers has seen varied daily agendas is also being cited as a Certainly, from the very early days,
fortunes across its many subsectors: factor that may be helping printer sales. the printer cartridge market value has
for example, the home inkjet printer However, in recent years, the shift been pressured by the availability of
market has reportedly shrunk by 11%, away from page printing towards a ‘alternatives’ to those manufactured by
while the All In One (AIO) printer sector ‘paperless’ office has gradually taken the OEMs – ie compatibles, refills and
has seen an average 12.8% growth its toll on overall printer cartridge remanufactured products. Says Bleese,
across the SoHo/SMB end-user sector. demand, while an ongoing shift to “We are of course primarily supportive
Indeed, AIO laser printers have grown Managed Print Services (MPS) is seeing of the OEMs and work hard to promote
by 32.5% within the SoHo market, transactional demand for cartridges their key messages and campaigns and
while sales of A3 sized inkjet machines fall as commercial end-users opt for we are continually looking for new sales
have reportedly also increased, due to sourcing cartridges as part of their opportunities for them with the dealer
their improved quality, higher speeds printer supply arrangements, as Stuart community. However, the market has
and reduced footprints. Indeed, faster Bleese, Category Director - EOS & seen an increase in both remanufactured
inkjet speeds and smaller footprints Technology, VOW Wholesale, explains: and compatible products. While various
are now being widely cited as positive “The transactional market has seen a schemes offered by the OEMs, along with
drivers of overall printer demand, as is steady decline in volume, driven by MPS, market consolidation, has made demand
a reduction in price that is making these the reduction of lower yield cartridges, for remanufactured products more
units affordable for ‘almost anyone’. more efficient print technologies and challenging, the share of compatible
Other innovations have also been consumers being more print-conscious. cartridges has been on the rise, as we
introduced to stimulate demand for The counterfeit market and the grey have seen more manufacturers and
desktop printers, such as the launch of sourcing of goods has also not helped.” suppliers entering the market and selling

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