Epson holds partner meet in London

Epson's top 65 performing business

partners for its Business Products division recently gathered in London to

discuss the company's first half performance and to plan for the second half.

The occasion was also used to announce Epson's entry into the mono laser

segment in India with the launch of a new range of mono laser printers.

Epson's key business partners from all around India have

flown to London to be present for this meet. During his presentation at the meet

Samba Moorthy, GM, Business Products said Epson India had far exceeded the

targets set for dot matrix printer sales for the first half of the year. As a

result Epson was revising its second half targets upwards considerably. He said

he was confidant Epson with the help of its partners could push its market share

beyond the current 40 percent it was enjoying so far this year.

According to Ketan Patel of Creative Peripherals, Mumbai

"Epson's performance has been fantastic during the first half of this

year. We have personally seen a growth of over 40 percent in our Epson dot

matrix printer sales compared to last year and this is great news for us."

The occasion was also used to announce Epson's entry into

the mono laser segment with the launch and unveiling of its mono laser range. It

may be recalled that Epson had made its re-entry into the Laser segment earlier

this year with the launch of it color lasers. Epson will also be introducing a

color laser All-in-One, which will cater to the varied usage of corporate

customers. Commenting on the launch of the mono laser range Etsuo Fujita, MD,

Epson India said, "With the launch of mono and All- in-One our laser range

is now complete in India. We are extremely serious about this business and hope

to grow it significantly over the next three years with the support of our

partners. The range is excellent and we are going to back up the entire effort

with a high decibel marketing program."

According to Pavan Durani of OA

Compserve, New Delhi

"Epson's entry into the mono laser segment is great. This is a company

with a strong presence in both dot matrix and inkjet printers. With laser now

they will be the only company present in all three segments of the printer

market. If I was their competition I would be worried."

Epson has been steadily growing its market share in the dot matrix printer

segment and according to latest market share figures is likely to be in the

number one slot. As a result of this and its consistent performance in other

segments Epson has consolidated on its number two position in the overall

printer market with a 22 percent market share.

DQW News Bureau


Bangalore