Sharp joins the printer race

NEW DELHI: Determined to be recognized as a serious IT player, Sharp India

has launched a range of printers targeted at the corporate sector. Considering

that the crowded printer market has been focusing more on the home and the SME

segments, it is a little surprising that Sharp chose the high-end segment to

make its printer debut in the country. But the company has lined up a

well-planned strategy to create an impact on the market. Says Pankaj Sharma,

Head of Sales and Channels in the country, "It has been a deliberate

attempt to position our products in the corporate sector since the initial

target is to create an image. Once the brand is established in the corporate

sector, the home segment will be easier to tackle."

So, are the leading players in the segment like HP worried about the new

entrant? "No" says, Princy Bhatnagar of HP, Market Development Manager

for deskjets and scanjets. "It is such a dynamic market that rather than

eating into our market share, we are going to see Sharp creating its own market

space. Being a technologically competent company, there is no reason why it

should not be able to establish itself as a player if it is prepared to invest

in building the market." Being one of the biggest players in this segment,

HP claims to have 90 per cent market share in the high-end printers segment. It

is also a segment where established names like Epson and Canon have been

struggling to make a mark. Therefore, it is an open ended question whether Sharp

would be able to establish itself in this end of the spectrum.

Sharp has launched printers in the Rs 10,000 plus range. It has launched four

printers to begin with: AJ 1800; AJ 2000; AJ 2100, and AJ 6010 with the 6010

being at the highest end of the price-line. While the first three are standalone

products, the last is a multi-functional product with a printer, scanner and

copier built into it. All the products are network compatible with the AJ 2100

providing photo-like printing quality. All the products are in the 6 ppm-12 ppm

range, depending on whether the printing is in color or in black and white.

Sharp has already launched a digital printer, the FO 2950, priced at around

Rs 45,000 with six built-in functions: phone, fax, copier, printer, scanner and

e-mail. Sharp’s printers are a result of a technical collaboration with

Fujitsu and Xerox with the software being developed by Sharp.

Sharp’s USP will be the additional features in its printers. For instance,

in addition to the 150-sheet tray, the printers also have a bypass tray that can

load different kinds of paper. There are four individual ink tanks–cyan,

magenta, yellow and black allowing users to replace only that color which has

exhausted. Sharp also offers a three-year onsite warranty to corporate users on

all the three products except the AJ 6010. This would be complemented by its

strategy to establish its servicing presence in the country through its

channels.

Sharp has been banking on its long association with its channels to make a

difference in its race. With a network of 100 distributors and a total channel

network of over 250 partners, Sharma feels its reach together with an emphasis

on service will go a long way in establishing its presence. And, there are also

attractive incentives on offer for its channels: selling 50 printers in five

months would entail a trip to Paris and selling 30 printers in five months would

mean a trip to Mauritius. What’s more, the company is launching an aggressive

media campaign to announce its entry into the printer segment. After having

launched the product at Bangalore IT.com during the first week of November,

Sharp will also participate in IT Asia to be held in Mumbai to provide

visibility to its products. This will be supported by a media campaign in both

mainstream and technology publications. This is in line with Sharp’s overall

strategy to first make its presence felt in the market before making any

projections about its sales figures. In fact, Sharma does not expect any

significant sales until the next fiscal, 2001-02.

By early next year, Sharp plans to launch an array of products, from low-end

entry-level printers to high-end LCD monitors.