65% of the global digital imaging market belongs to cartridges

Why has Cartridge World entered India when smaller refillers monopolize

the refilling business?



Cartridge World was founded in South Australia in 1997. Today, it has over

1,500 stores and retail revenues of more than $350 mn worldwide. It works on the

unique concept of refilling printer cartridges with guaranteed as good as

new performance, savings and a process encouraging reuse, thereby saving the

environment also.

How big is the opportunity for organized players in a largely fragmented

market?



Today, refilling is a bad word due to the way India has been refilling over

the years. There are very few or no specialized refilling stores. Refilling in

most cases is not done scientifically; a cartridge is treated like a container

and ink- like colored water. The result thus is a bad product. The fact is that

the cartridge is the most sensitive part of the printing process and the quality

of printing depends primarily on the quality of cartridge, not the printer.

The key to success with this segment is differentiating properly and customer

education. The organized segment of the aftermarket industry needs to put in

extra effort to interact and educate this segment effectively about the benefits

of scientific refilling.

How huge is the refilling industry and at what pace is it growing?



Globally, digital imaging is a $101 bn opportunity, 65% of which belongs to

cartridges alone. In India, industry estimates reflect that printer consumables

are a Rs 2,500 crore opportunity, growing at over 30% y-o-y. We launched our

first store in India in November 2006. We have twelve operational stores across

seven citiesfour in Mumbai, two in Kolkata, two in Delhi, one each in

Bangalore, Varanasi, Nagpur, and Jaipur.

Your marketing and sales strategy in India...



Our strategy is to educate, communicate and demonstrate. We educate

customers and communicate the benefits of refilling. And continuously

demonstrate quality service. We use a mix of above the line and below the line

marketing activities to create awareness and post-launch increase footfalls and

sales of our stores.

Charu Khera



maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in