Epson puts its best foot forward to regain the lost ground

With the recent launch of its new printer--C41SX, Epson has put a completely
new strategy in the market to gain the lost ground. It has begun a slew of
marketing initiatives that range from innovative loyalty schemes to price
protection for the older inventories for the channel partners.

This new strategy is proving to be quite successful so far. The channel
partners are also showing greater confidence in Epson, as they are able to
retain healthier bottomlines with Epson printers through the various
channel-oriented schemes and marketing initiatives.

Taposh Chatterjee, Director, Peripheral Solutions, was very bullish about
Epson printers. "People who know about Epson printers can never think of
buying any other printer. It's just that HP or other players score over Epson
due to the lesser brand consciousness that it enjoys. I am providing value-added
services along with the regular service and it is reaping me very healthy
bottomlines."

However, Anil Sachdeva, Director, Kadam Marketing, a leading partner of
Epson, is satisfied with the product but feels that Epson does not have a
well-defined marketing strategy in place.

Azra Fatima, Manager (Marcom), Epson India, said, "Right now the focus
is on building a concrete channel network and creating a well-educated customer
base." The new printer comes at the price of their earlier printer with
twice as many features as the earlier one. This new printer has been accepted
quite well in the market as per the market feedback.

To sustain the older inventories, Epson has revised the pricing for
C20SX--the earlier model, is providing the price protection to its dealers and
marketing initiatives in which the classified advertisements contain the
reseller's name and new price. It is trying to educate the end user through its
canopy program in which Epson deals with users face to face. Its demo center has
also proved to be a blessing as a lot of customers are easily convinced to buy
an Epson printer after looking at it in action.

Epson is also trying to give the maximum support right now to the last tier
of the channel partners to generate sales confidence. "The idea is to
create a gentle pull from the market to ease the push in the market," added
Fatima.

Shweta Khanna