EPSON Printer Challenger

This dot-printer major clocked a

revenue of Rs 159 crore for fiscal 1999-00 against the previous year’s Rs 95

crore. With this, the company moved up to the number 50 position from its

previous year’s position of 71. It sold about 150,648 printers in the DMP and

inkjet categories. In all, it sold 80,106 DMPs and 70,542 inkjets in the

country. Barring the eastern region, the company witnessed a uniform revenue

pattern in rest of the country, with the government and public sectors

contributing in a major way. Towards the end of the fiscal, Epson launched a

series of laser printers

in the country. In addition, Epson launched such products as scanners, digital

cameras, mini printers, liquid crystal display projectors, point-of-sale

intelligent registers, consumables and spares.

Fiscal 1999-00 was a year of

consolidation for Epson, which tried to establish itself as a strong peripherals

manufacturer in the country. Towards this end, Epson created high visibility and

popularized its brand. The series of campaigns in the media featuring former

Miss Universe, Sushmita Sen, helped drive the brand and Epson’s message. The

company also expanded its operations,

establishing offices in the four metros–Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Calcutta.

The company established its service

network through tie-ups with some key dealers in the Epson Authorized Service

Partner program, and about 60 such centers sprung to action in the last year. In

addition to the regular channel incentive scheme, the Epson Scratch 22 offer

generated a lot of enthusiasm and interest among its channel partners. Special

schemes to concentrate on the corporate and systems integrator segments were

also launched.

Epson is awaiting approval from the Foreign Investments

Promotion Board for a 100% subsidiary status in the country. It is expected to

benefit from the advantages of local billing and tax reductions, once it gets

that status. DQ

Fact Sheet

Start-up year: 1998 Products AND Services: Computer

peripherals Employees: 45 Address: 310-306 Prestige Meridian-I, 3rd Floor, 29 MG

Road, Bangalore 560 001 Tel: 532 1266-70 l Fax: 558 1799 Website: www.epson.co.in