CSA 2011: HP is #1 in Printers, Canon, Epson Closing in

HP dominates this segment and the scores say it all. At #1 spot HPs customer satisfaction has grown marginally to 87.90 from last years 87.30. However the rest of the vendor ranks changed significantly, for instance Xerox fell down by 2 points and slid to #4 while Canon made an impressive comeback to #2 position. Epson too had a spectacular run and from its 5th position previous year, it made to the #3. The overall decline in satisfaction scores of both Samsung and Xerox has altered the top 3 satisfaction charts this time.

Looking at the overall laser printer market, the single function grew by 3% in FY 10. Meanwhile things were not that rosy in the MFD segment which saw a 22% decline in value terms. Moreover FY 10 also saw concepts like managed print services gaining ground and as a result enterprises adopted a combination of print solutions like on-demand print services to the entire print outsourcing. But HP over the years has understood the market very well and its balanced deployment model is the key to consistent performance both in terms of market share as well as customer satisfaction. As we look at all the parameters HP has a clear lead compared to competition signifying its hold in the printer market.

Canons impressive performance can be attributed to its good performance on parameters like pre-sales, delivery and installation. Other parameters that influenced Canons scores were parameters like responsiveness of the vendor to your specific requirement (pre-sales and marketing) and timely delivery/total time to initiate the project (delivery and installation) have been the major contributors in increased satisfaction this year. Moreover during FY 10 Canon registered a 112% growth in the laser printer business also seemed to have worked in its favor as it has expanded the total installed base for its laser printers here in India.

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Over the year the market also saw some innovation in print technologies. HP launched its ePrint technology that allows consumers and creative professionals such as photographers, to print from any email device to their HP printer, from anywhere in the world. The new ePrint-enabled ink printer is designed to wirelessly print lab-quality photos, everyday documents, and creative projects affordably. Meanwhile in the Wi-Fi category, Canon aims to capture a 50% market share of the Wi-Fi printing by end of 2010 with most of its newly launched laser printers having a Wi-Fi capacity. In the upcoming year, Canon plans to have 80% of the investment in promotions and other marketing activities, and the remaining 20% in improving marketing infrastructure, such as setting up Wi-Fi zones and exclusive showrooms.

Our CED ensures that no customer is left high and dry

M Vinayagamurthy, country manager, consumer support, Imaging & Printing Group, HP India Sales

IPG has been a consistent winner for quite some time now, what is the secret?

We are constantly engaged in marking continuous improvement in every support process. What do the customers want? They want good phone support and we have ensured just that. Our toll free number is accessible from all networks (be it GSM, CDMA or landline) from more than 1,000 towns with 6-day support from 9 am to 9pm, supported by qualified engineering staff who offer optimal solution to customers. This is the key enabler.

However in cases where the issue is not addressed at the agent level, the agents electronically transfer the call to the repair support point and then on-site troubleshooting is triggered.

We also have a structured mechanism for taking customer feedback. Its a global survey wherein the analysis is done by independent global teams and posted online.

Can you run through some of the key customer satisfaction initiatives undertaken by IPG in the last one year?

For customers whats most important is accessibility to the call center, which unfortunately was hard a few years back. The toll free number wasnt accessible from the GSM connections, we then worked with the telcos and now anyone using any phone can access the call center. Therefore accessibility has definitely improved a lot.

Also the number of cities covered has expanded; in the last one quarter we have added around 1,500 towns.

We also have in place the Safety Net. Under this, once the customer goes through all the processes and still something is not working to satisfaction, the call gets forwarded to the CED (Customer Experience Helpdesk) by the agents themselves. Who listen to the customers grievance and a product replacement is done. We ensure that no customer is left high and dry.

In the last one year, particularly after the slowdown, has there been any significant shift in customer satisfaction trends?

Interestingly, with all these customer satisfaction initiatives in place, according to our internal CSAT survey, the satisfaction levels are up by 25-30% . More and more customers are asking for optimal usage of their printers and we are ensuring that the call center is like the solution center, and that first call resolutions take place there itself.

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