Laser Printers

This year, too, HP has won in this category with a very wide margin. Its closest rival, Epson, comes in with a UPI of just 9%, followed by Samsung, Canon and Lexmark, all with a 4% UPI. HP is the unquestioned king in the North and South and very dominant in the West. And, it seems to be the brand of choice, equally amongst companies with an IT spend of Rs 25 lakh as well as those with a spend of over Rs one

crore.

It got a 100% vote from telecom and is preferred by government departments, research institutes, finance and banking, services, software and BPO verticals. People want to buy an HP laser printer because they believe it is a good-quality product or they have used it and are satisfied with its performance. A one-horse race?

Though Epson still lags behind HP, it has made some recovery this year. Its UPI this year has gone up to 9% from 4% of last year's. Epson seems to be finding its way in the West zone and in companies with an IT spend of between Rs 50 lakh to Rs one

crore.

HP commands high brand loyalty with 93% of its users wanting to continue using its products. The bad news for Epson is that 25% of its users want to shift to HP, while 17% of Samsung users say they will shift to HP. Of the users of other brands, 27% say they will shift to HP while 19% say they will shift to Epson.

Samsung made a rather quiet entry into the printer market some years back.

Its impact has been out of proportion as compared to the other categories in which it is present.

Two other areas where a threat could come for the laser printer are from MFDs or from high-speed network inkjets. Both are currently behind the laser in sheer costs per page. But a more significant change within the category is the increased acceptance of the color laser, given the combination of falling prices and improved quality. Before all we know, we may be looking at a separate category of color lasers a year or two down the line.