Epson's PoS business records steady growth

BANGALORE: Office automation products major Epson, which is known more for its printer and all-in-one product lines has another business division, which is showing impressive growth both in India and globally.

This lesser-known but large volume business is the Japanese company's Systems devices division (SDD) that includes Point of Sales (PoS) devices. This product division consists of three product categories-mini printer mechanism (hardware that is incorporated into OEM products); terminal module printers and PoS systems.

SDD's sales of around Rs 32 crore in fiscal `05 accounted for 16% of Epson India's overall revenues. It is not just the retail boom in India that is spurring the business of Epson's SDD, but also other segments such as paper lottery.

“There are a lot of niche applications for our PoS devices such as lottery, test and measure equipments, ticket printing, utility services, textiles and banking,” said N Sambamoorthy, GM-business products, Epson India Pvt. Ltd.

Customers prefer the smaller 40-column printer citing that it is space saving and offers more durability and ease of use, he said.

Air Deccan and the famous “laddoo” counters at the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam and the Hyderabad Turf Club are some of the customers who deploy Epson's PoS devices. “We have been recording a steady CAGR of 355 for the last three years,” said Sambamoorthy.

Sambamoorthy expects a lot of traction for the products from the road transport segment thanks to the increase in infrastructure activities and toll collection counters on highways.

To capitalize on the huge market opportunity, the company has appointed an Chennai based SI-distributor Purple Infotech which has its presence in eight locations. Epson's direct sales team is also focusing on specific verticals such as transport, gaming, kiosks, retail and utilities. Besides direct sales, the company is also trying to percolate into the verticals through dealers.

“We have appointed 25 dealers who are box pushers and also solution providers ho can provide our products and services support to customers. We are also involving 70 independent software vendors to develop retail and non-retail end user applications on top of PoS,” he said.

Next year, Epson plans to increase the dealer base from 25 to 60 who will be spread over 60 locations. “We want to spread not just in the verticals mentioned but also cover mom and pop stores across India,” said Sambamoorthy.

In the US and European markets, Epson's PoS business constitutes around 30-35% of the revenues. Epson is the world leader in the segment and commands 60-65% market share in both India and globally. The company's main competitors in India are HCL Star, Samsung, TVSE and WeP.

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