TVSE to target small retailers with Proton

TVS Electronics (TVSE), an Indian printer manufacturing company, has chalked out a clear strategy to emerge as the dominant player in the DMP segment with its new printer called Proton. Targeted at the small-time retailer, the company estimates that the new launch will enable it to capture as much as 50 percent of the transaction printing business catapulting it to the number one position in the segment. 

The new product has been developed after extensive survey amongst the target segment in 12 cities across the country. The company claims the product to be the fastest bill printer in the DMP market. It can print as many as 10 bills per minute making it 20 percent faster than any other transaction printer in the world. 

Priced Rs 7,000, the new printer has features like roll-paper feeder and innovative ink bank technology which makes economic use of consumables enabling savings to the tune of 50 percent annually. The product currently offers printing in Tamil and Hindi but the facility is expected to be extended to other regional languages very soon. Proton, which was completely indigenously designed, had a team of 17 people working for 20 months on the project with an estimated investment of Rs 4 crore. 

Focussed on the transaction market space the new product "was spurred by the need to reinvent the dotmatrix printer into a more customized product," said Gopal Srinivasan, Director, TVSE. The survey established that the company needed to introduce a dramatically different product and a product that would cater to the specific need of bill printing. DMPs also have the lowest cost of consumables and is just the right products for retailers who are looking for cost effective value-for-money solutions.

The company identifies the small retailer segment as the millions of grocers, chemists, restaurants, apparel and footwear shops, etc. that exist across all A and B class cities. According to the company's estimates there are around three million such shops which would be the target segment for the new product. 

These customers will be accessed through its range of channel partners totaling 2,000 across the country. The company has two national distributors Ingram Micro and Tech Pacific and 40 regional distributors. The most important players in the promotion of its new product would be its software solution partners or SSP who account for around 60 percent of the company's sales. 

TVSE has a network of 300 service partners across 200 cities trained by the company. It also has 12 call centers, which operate in the local language of the center. 

Cyber News Service