VOX POP
PRINT
IT
RESELLER.UK
31
Phil Jones,
Managing Director,
Brother UK
“The march by vendors to secure recurring
revenues under contract continues with
pace, and channel partners are recognising
the importance of this in terms of
protection of their own customers from
competitor cannibalisation and large direct
vendors moving down the stack in search
of new pages.
“The concept of one big machine in
the corner is being really challenged by the
distributed print environment and page
prices are becoming more competitive as
print-centric vendors take on the battle for
the mid-market against copier-centric-only
propositions.
“Smart resellers are continuing to
invest in skills, IT platforms and services to
maximise and protect their print revenues
for the mid-term, but also to address the
growing requirements in digitisation,
workflow, collaboration and mobility.”
Nigel Morris,
Marketing Director,
Beta Distribution
“Continuing pressure on OEM-branded
consumables’ margin seems inevitable,
both at the dealer and distributor level.
Compatibles and remanufactured products
do represent an opportunity for the dealer
to make more margin and the end user
to enjoy lower buy prices, but there are
a couple of factors that will impact this
market in 2016.
“The ongoing presence of clone
products (copies of OEM products) will
keep a downward pressure on the prices
of legitimate remanufactured products.
The requirements of the WEEE regulations,
which come into force in January 2016 and
include most types of toner cartridge, will
need to be considered by remanufactured
toner brand owners. They also serve to
threaten the clone toners, which can’t be
recycled.
“In general terms, dealers have had to
look outside traditional office products as
demand has declined and they will need to
take the same approach with OEM-branded
consumables. MPS has been talked about
for many years as one answer, but it is still a
challenge for many dealers whose business
is transaction-based rather than ‘cost per
click’. However, 2016 may be the year when
MPS finally makes a breakthrough in many
more dealers’ businesses.”
Bob Davies,
Commercial Director,
Integra Office Solutions
“Thirty-three per cent of OP dealers’
business is EOS, of which the lion’s share
is toner and ink. Remanufactured and
compatible cartridge share of the market
has not materially changed in the last
10 years, at just under 25% overall.
Consequently, compatible cartridge
What will be the major developments and trends in printing in 2016?
PITR
asks industry experts for their thoughts .
Print predictions 2016
manufacturers are all fighting for the same
sector of the market. In the last five years
or so we have seen a significant reduction
in market prices, a key driver behind the
recent price reductions in Initiative brand
toners (which are now very competitively
priced).
“On the upside, whilst market share
of compatibles has plateaued, the market
is still growing and predicted to continue
growing at 6.2% through to 2019. This
is driven largely by positive growth in the
hardware sector, particularly multifunction
and colour devices, so the aftermarket
should still deliver positive revenue growth.
Mobile printing is also predicted to help
drive future growth.
“MPS remains both a threat and
an opportunity for OP dealers. Solution
selling is trumping product selling and
MPS is continuing to gain traction, with
significant growth coming from the IT
and VAR channels. IT specialists are in the
main perceived as more trusted to install
monitoring software on users’ systems, but
many OP dealers are not really embracing
MPS and the changes required in their own
businesses to make a success of it. The
biggest challenge is finding out who the
printer contract decision-makers are and
understanding how to address the market.
“OEMs and their channel partners
are embracing the ‘walk in and takeover’
(WiTo) mentality rather than the old ‘rip
and replace’, thus increasing opportunities
for OEM alternative cartridge solutions.
All OEMs now offer ‘brand agnostic’
MPS programs and all are partnered with
cartridge remanufacturers. HP’s MPS
program, for example, manages both HP
and third-party printers and copiers. HP
acquired a remanufacturer, Printelligent, a
few years back and Xerox (the world leader
in MPS for the last four years) acquired
Laser Networks. Whilst these OEMs have
grown their MPS business in the large
enterprise sector, they are now well placed
to scale down to address the SME space
with brand-agnostic products.
“The 3D print market is also a growth
area. It’s anticipated that twice as many 3D
printers will be sold in 2016 as in 2015.
Smart resellers are continuing to invest in skills,
IT platforms and services
continued...
Nigel Morris,
Marketing Director,
Beta Distribution
Phil Jones,
Managing Director,
Brother UK
