OEM aims to strengthen its presence in laser MFP and inkjet all-in-one (AIO) markets.
CRN reported on Canon’s new go-to-market (GTM) strategy for both laser MFPs and inkjet AIOs in India, with the OEM reportedly planning to “consolidate its presence in top-10 markets and penetrate deeper in tier-2 and -3 cities for inkjet AIOs” and “aggressively focus on VARs [value-added resellers] catering to enterprise, mid-market and government segments” as part of its plans to push its laser MFP offerings.
Commenting on the laser MFP strategy, Gautam Paul, Assistant Director of Consumer System Products Group at Canon, explained that it “will be our focused approach to move ahead of box-pushing and to offer printing solutions through VARs. We want to build a robust VAR channel by identifying VARs from current set of partners and by adding new ones that could provide solutions to large customers”. He added that the strategy for the VAR channel will be formulated “by 2014-end”.
Paul noted that, in addition to large enterprises choosing A4 laser MFPs for their branches and departments, a lot of mid-market and SMB customers choose laser MFPs to benefit from “optimum printing speed and enterprise applications at lower costs”; while “many of the large customers are now opting for inkjet printers to lower their printing cost”. He added that “IT VARs are well positioned to leverage this demand and provide end-to-end printing solutions”.
In terms of market share, Canon is aiming to have 15 percent in the laser MFP segment this year.
Meanwhile, in the inkjet AIO segment, Canon hopes its Ink Efficient E-series printers will provide growth and “five to six SKUs in the OND quarter of 2014”, with Paul explaining: “Besides product expansion, our focus will be to consolidate market share in top-10 cities and to expand presence in tier-2 and -3 cities. In top-10 cities we already have market share of 25 percent and will expand it to 30 percent in a year by capturing competition market share with feature-rich products with high decibel marketing.”
Paul added that Canon “will enable partners to sell more” in tier-2 and -3 cities and will “add more partners for deeper penetration”, aiming to beat HP and reach the number one position in the inkjet AIO segment in the next two years.