Personal MFDs

HP is the winner in this category, which has been introduced from this year, replacing the earlier inkjet printers. Coming up second is Canon, albeit far behind, followed by Epson. In spite of the current flurry of activity in this segment, other brands failed to make the cut.

More than half the current ownership comes from the South. As can be expected, as we go higher in household income, the penetration of MFDs increases.

The User's Choice in the Inkjet MFD market seems be a veritable copy of what happened last year in the inkjet printer market. Just to jog our memory, last year, HP was the winner in inkjets, followed by Canon with a Users' Choice index of 25 and Epson with 16. This year, if anything, the second- and third-placed brands have registered a small decline.

Current ownership in a segment that is only about a year old is already at an impressive 20 percent. And, as can be expected, HP has a good lead in current ownership, followed by Epson and then Canon. Lexmark is only slightly behind Canon in current ownership. 

That brings us to brand loyalty. HP registers a 79 percent brand loyalty, followed by Epson at 55 percent. Canon should be worried at the low loyalty percentage of just 29 percent. Canon might loose more of current owners to Epson (43 percent) than to HP (29 percent). While the current ownership is too low for detailed analysis, we see an interesting cycle of brand shift operating in this segment. A majority of Lexmark owners want to shift to Canon than to any other brand. A majority of current Canon owners, in turn, would choose Epson, and of Epson owners who want to shift, most would choose HP. Now, what about HP owners who want to shift? More of them would choose Canon than Epson, with none preferring Lexmark.

What does all this mean in the long run? In short, if this pattern of users' choice were to persist, HP would end up

consolidating their position further, in a segment that is still in its infancy. But it is early days yet, and while it may be too soon to predict which way the brand play will work out, if previous experience with inkjet printers is anything to go by, then the other brands have their work cut out battling HP's dominance.