Partners get ready to fall under Black Magic

NR Sethuraman

Chennai

March 26, 2008

Chennai-based recycled cartridge manufacturers Black Magic Toners will take
channel route for marketing their products in the B and C class cities across
the country. It is in the process of appointing distributors and dealers across
various places like Tiruchy, Tirupur, Madurai, Coimbatore, Nashik to name a few.
For the past nine years the company has been selling direct in metros and big
cities and it proposes to continue doing this, even while engaging with the
channel

Citing that partners are the best way to ensure good reach of its products,
Gopi Varma, Director, Black Magic Toners said, "When we planned to take our
products across the tier 2 and 3 cities, we thought channels would be the ideal
platform for us and didn't have second thought after that. Moreover we have to
go along with the market and if we doesn't do that we would be left out in the
race."

He also foresees a lot of opportunity in the upcountry region for the
cartridges, as laser printers are becoming the order of the day there and that
is said to be the primary reason for the sudden focus of Black Magic in those
regions. Apart from taking the channel route, they will also enter the retail
sector.

"Again retail is going to be the future and we don't want to miss that
opportunity too. So we would be starting our retail outlets in Chennai, Mumbai
and Bangalore within next six months, where we would showcase our own products
for the customers to get a rich experience on the recycled cartridge
industry," Varma averred.

He doesn't feel any competition from this industry, as there are not many
players who are remanufacturing quality cartridges. "Quality has been the
USP of Black Magic and we have got a significant brand image to emphasize our
products in the market. This recycling industry needs lots of players to come in
and compete with each other, which will in turn make the industry quality
rich," he claimed.

Started in Chennai in 1999, Black Magic has its operations in ten locations
including all the metros. It also has a training facility in its operation
center here in Chennai with, which it has planned to train its channel partners
in the near future. And on the road ahead, Black Magic has planned to centralize
its operations and also planned to enter the SAARC courtiers. As a first step it
will start the operations in Srilanka by this year-end, Varma informed.