Epson uses special ink to take on competition

Epson India is underlining the ink within its machines to boost its sales in
India. It believes that the external casing in most printers are not unusual,
but it is the ink that actually is the core differentiating factor in a printer
and therefore wants to highlight the different inks it uses in its machines.

The company had started off by having dye-based ink and then progressed to
DuraBrite, which is pigment-based. The latter is water, smudge and
light-resistant and the printouts can last up to 120 years, according to studies
done by Epson.

Said RV Ramprasad, Regional Manager, Epson India, "Most companies are
busy promoting their printer hardware. But the soul of the printer lies in its
ink technology. We have invested heavily in our ink technology and now want to
educate our users about how it is ideal for their printing requirement."
Most vendors use pages per minute as a benchmark for proving their product
superiority. But Epson is going to town talking about its ink technology
instead.

According to Ramprasad, DuraBrite ink provides good output on plain paper. To
give its customers a wider choice of media to print on, Epson has now come out
with UltraChrome ink, which can print on glossy paper as well. The Durabrite
based machines also come with individual ink tanks. "Therefore a customer
has to replace only those inks that are over, rather than replacing the entire
pack, which is cost-effective," Ramprasad added. Epson is now leveraging on
its Durabrite ink technology and will soon be introducing five new inkjets and
all-in-ones based on it. These will be launched next month and will be available
in a price bandwidth of Rs 5,000 to Rs 9,000.

Epson is also promoting its printers which are available with memory card
slots, which are used by digicam and mobile phone users. It has already signed
up with Nokia, which is promoting the mobile printer as part of its product
promotion for the Nokia 6600 phone.

According to research done by Epson, the monochrome market is a big one,
which is largely ignored by most vendors who are more focused on color.
Therefore, it is trying to tap this market as well, with another new ink called
K3, which gives different shades of black output.

Vinita Bhatia