We are launching retail photo printing services in India shortly

What is the Ink Advantage program by HP all about?



This new scheme was launched in India a couple of months ago. We want to

formulate the entire process and offer it to our consumers and SME customers,

giving them a better and more satisfying experience with HP products and

services. Through the Ink Advantage program we have increased the price of the

hardware (printer) but significantly reduced the price of the ink. The net

impact of this program is that the cost per page of printing is much less than

before. Under the new scheme we are not just selling the hardware but an entire

system to our customers. This scheme is already being practiced for our

government and corporate accounts and today these accounts consists 30% of our

total ink sale in India. That means we have a proper track on 30% of our overall

ink sale, and know the customers.

How is it going to benefit you to increase your ink sale?



With this new model our entire sales structure has changed. Previously we

used to sell just the box. But with this model we are actually selling a service

package. New schemes like dial-a-cartridge, email-a-cartridge, etc further

facilitate this system sales model. And this renewed approach of system sale is

sure to make a big difference for us as we are now binded with the customers

throughout the product lifetime to offer them all kinds of services required.

This scheme is sold primarily through our partners, HP World stores as well

as selected LFRs and commercial stores. We have laid out a plan to ensure that

all our partners gain equal share of benefits through this scheme. India is a

big market for us with over 75% share, and we have got a very big partner

network.

What is the future potential of printing in India? What is HP doing to

maintain its lead?



We are launching retail photo printing services in India shortly. With the

mobile revolution in Indian digital photography is on the rise, combined with

those taken from digital cameras it is a huge potential for us. Incidentally,

Snapfish has received great response from India and we believe its just the

beginning. With more enhanced content and services offered through these

initiatives, the market is just going to grow creating more customer segments

for us. Online printing is another focus area. We would like to have alliances

with key portals like Yahoo!, Flickr, etc to offer more competitive services to

our customers.

Piyali Guha



piyalig@cybermedia.co.in