Re-inventing Cartridge Refilling

Kolkata based printer cartridge refiller chain Re-feel Cartridge aims
to have a nationwide presence with plans to open 250 stores by 2010
covering over 45 cities. Re-feel started its journey way back in 2007
by opening its first store in Kolkata and then there was no looking
back. Recently it has launched several new franchisee stores across the
country covering places like, Bhubaneswar, Hospet, Thane, Surat, two
stores each in Mumbai and Kolkata and three in Bangalore. Currently the
company has



Primarily into inkjet and laser refilling, Re-feel also sells OEM
cartridges, speciality paper, fax supplies, printers and office
supplies through its outlets. It has also introduced pre-ink and self
inking office stamps recently. According to Alkesh Agarwal, CEO,
Re-feel Cartridge Engineering, refilling services offered by the
company enables customers to save up to 75% on print costs as well as
provide quality printing equivalent to original cartridges. Supporting
the necessity for an organized cartridge refilling industry in India
Agarwal points out the various benefits associated with refilling.
“With this new breed of players entering the Indian market,
the re-filled and re-manufactured cartridge segment has started to
behave in a more matured and organized manner offering proper products,
pricing, and services for the customers,” he said.
“ However, even today re-filling is looked down in India
since this market has been largely dominated by local and unorganized
players who never bothered about customer needs, quality, post sales
services or technology. Today customers are becoming quality conscious
as well as cost saving is high on their agenda as recession hit the
market. This has been a transitional factor for the refilled market as
this helped in the cleaning process,” he added.



According to Agarwal the smaller and local refillers are slowly
reducing and those players who are offering quality product and
services and work in an organized manner are gaining ground.
“With organized players like Cartridge World and Re-fill
coming in the picture and spreading their wings across India and with
the formation of refiller's associations like ICRA, CRTAI, this sector
is emerging as a strong and revamped contender in the Indian consumable
market and is standing at the verge of high
growth.”  Re-feel also concentrates on the reducing
the ever increasing environmental cost of the growth process of the
country, by aiding to the reduction of e-waste. “Each
cartridge takes 400 years to biodegrade and therefore why not refill
than landfil,” is what Agarwal says.



Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), publishers of ‘The
Times of India’ and ‘The Economic Times’,
of late have entered into deal with Re-feel. As part of the deal, BCCL
has invested around Rs 15 crore in the company.