Brother International India has set for us itself aggressive growth plans for FY2015: to increase market share in the A4inkjet printers from 4% to 15% market share, and from the present 2% to 7% in monochrome laser
Inkjet still makes up the majority of the printer market, but the best market growth is in laser as per IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, February 2015. It further reveals that Color increased 1.4% from a year ago to 19.2% share versus its monochrome counterparts, which lost one point to account for 80.8% share in 4Q14.
Despite the predictions home and business IT peripherals vendor Brother is all set to increase its market share in the A4inkjet printer from 4% to 15% market share, and from the present 2% to 7% in monochrome laser in FY2015.
As part of its India strategy the printer vendor is introducing new products suitable for India market, and is confident that with the launch of its range of Inkjet Multi-Function Centres that features a new Refill Tank System it will be right on target. The latest offering from Brother comprises three 3-in-1 inkjet Multi-Function Centres — DCP-T300 is priced at Rs, 11,100; DCP-T500W is priced at Rs. 12,150; and DCP-T700W is priced at Rs. 14,750.
To improve its low visibility in the market Brother in investing heavily inn advertisements, and in-store branding in addition to channel development, channel support and service support.
These series introduces low cost ink bottles with ultra-high 6000 page-yield, with embedded tank to make ink refilling hassle free.
Talking about these initiatives Toshiyaki Isayama, MD, Brother International India Pvt. Ltd, says, “We are not very strong in the inkjet market but with these launches we are confident to get more presence and marketshare.”
Brother’s new inkjet Multi-Function Centre range are aimed at high print volume users who want lower running cost, and it features 6000 page-yield for black ink.
In addition, for convenience the ink tank cover is located at the front of the Multi-Function Centre, and also features a see-through cover at the front, which makes it easy for users to check how much ink is left. Furthermore, the new range’s smart design allows for ink refilling at an optimised 45-degree refill angle.
Presently the contribution of India to Brother’s business globally in terms of sales stands at less than 2%. With this launch Brother is also eyeing supplying more printer models from the present one to six-seven to DGS&D.
Brother has two sets of partners — Channel One Partners and Brother Select Partners. In the former there are 100 partners who are directly associated with Brother who further take their products inroads; and there are 600 Brother Select Partners, which Brother plans to further increase to 1000.
“At Brother, we understand customers are often seeking affordable ink when it comes to printing. Our products are mainly targeted at the small office home office (SOHO) or small business environment,” says Isayama.
