TVS-E intros remanufactured toners

TVS-E has entered into the consumables market with the soft launch of its own
brand of toners. “The laser printer market is dominated by major players and we
don't want to be a device player. So we have planned to enter the space as a
consumables player. We have just launched our own branded toners for all HP
models and interestingly these toners are remanufactured,” said, R Jaishankar,
Head-Sales, Transaction Products and Solutions Business Group, TVS-E. The
product would be officially launched by the end of JAS quarter.

TVS-E's promise to the costumer is original page yield, original print
quality yet 30 percent low-cost, claimed Jaishankar. “For repeat purchases or
large consumers of HP compatible toners, we assure a 30 percent reduction in
their annual cost,” Jaishankar said. He added that TVS-E definitely sees a good
opportunity in this space. “There is not a single national player in the toner
space who has established themselves, apart from HP. Many of them have come and
left the space without making a mark, especially in the remanufactured toner
space,” he averred. To start with TVS-E has come out with toners for HP printers
and they have also proposed to launch toners for other printers in the market.

TVS-E has taken the direct route for marketing these toners. “To start with,
we have planned to go direct by working with our key accounts and educating
them. We want to get as close to customers as we can and make them aware of the
quality and advantages of using TVS-E toners,” Jaishankar claimed.

TVS-E evaluated different factors in order to go to the market directly.
“Since most of the partners deal predominantly with HP products, we thought
initially we don't want to have a head-on collision. Secondly, this area of
remanufactured cartridges hasn't gained much interest among the channels, since
no vendor has established their footprints here,” he informed. He also said that
after establishing the product among customers, TVS-E would take the channel
route. “We would take the channel route probably within one year of our launch
for better reach,” Jaishankar informed.

On launching the toners and paving the way for customers to adopt laser
printers, he said, “Only 30-35 percent would be using DMP and the rest of the
market remains with laser technology, as the sale of inkjet printers has
comedown sharply. Laser would be in a long lasting space and we are not there.”
He also said that TVS-E would still champion the growth and cause of the DMP,
but this move of entering the consumables is to augment their presence in the
printing arena. “We are constantly exploring ways to expand the usability of DMP
in every possible area and we don't feel that DMP has come to an exit point.
Still there are miles to go and even at the end TVS-E would be the final player
to close the DMP segment,” Jaishankar claimed.