Shopping the aftermarket ““ something remanufactured, something compatible, something original, or something fake.
Pretty much all customers want to strike a bargain when it comes to spending money on their printing. They ask for the best possible device price, only want to agree to the lowest possible extended warranty fee, and services will only be paid for when absolutely necessary. So what is left for a dealer or reseller to generate profit? Consumables.
As a tech-savvy dealership, you might aim to generate revenue with solutions or Managed Print Services, but what do you do if someone doesn’t want or need your solutions and full-blown services? Consumables””toner and everything else a printer can possibly consume during its roughly five-year lifespan.
Inspired by the percentage of aftermarket exhibitors at ITEX 2018 (approximately 40%), I wanted to understand more about, in particular, the toner and cartridge market. OEMs and (re-)manufacturers around the globe are fighting hard for their market share. They go all in with the price, quality, legal paragraphs, and, in addition, we unfortunately also find counterfeits.
Like the “good” ones, the “bad” ones are everywhere (UK, Dubai, South Korea, USA, etc.), and OEMs, HP, Lexmark, Canon, Xerox, and others are suing for patent breaches, counterfeits, and illegal distribution almost everywhere.
Before I go any further, let me explain the difference between remanufactured, compatibles, original, and counterfeit.
- Remanufactured ““ The closest you can get to OEM toner/cartridges, as basically the original cartridges undergo a cleaning, refill, and QA (Quality Assessment) process before they end up pretty much the same as the OEM’s, but just a tiny bit different to not infringe on the patents.
- Compatibles ““ They look like the original, should work like the original, but it isn’t the original. Basically, it’s the same, but still a different cartridge.
- Original ““ The real thing. Manufactured by, well we don’t really know whom, but it’s got the original OEM logo, packaging, sometimes chip, yield, etc.
- Counterfeit ““ The opposite of everything mentioned above. It might look like the original cartridge, but it is different””often made of cheaper materials””and is illegal.
Numbers one and two in the above list are good for the consumer and for the dealer.
With the remanufactured and compatible cartridges, you can also find “extended yield,” so to speak, enabling the printer to print more pages using this cartridge compared to a traditional cartridge. Why is this good for you too even though there’s less profit in it? You’re building trust, and as a result, a long-lasting partnership
Number three from the list above is good for the dealer, financially, but maybe not so good for the consumer. That’s because with the original, you receive your full margin, however your customer might feel that they are paying too much. If it’s part of an MPS program it might not matter, but I’d make sure I find a good explanation why they are paying more for remanufactured or generic toner.
Number four is good for no one except maybe the counterfeiter and maybe your services team who has to go out and repair devices damaged by using counterfeit toner cartridges.
With the counterfeit, it’s just like with every other trademark violation: it’s cheap, works cheap, and it can seriously affect the lifespan of a device and its printing quality. I’d stay clear of anything like that, not just because of the legal consequences. Your reputation is worth much more than the few dollars you might be able to make on the side.
Toner as a money-making machine?
There is a lot of money in selling toner, no doubt. However, if you have your customer’s true interests in mind the last thing you want to make them do is waste toner and money. There are plenty of tools available for tracking page coverage, toner density, pixel rounding, predictive analytics, across to color calculation, and many more to make sure your customers are using just as much toner as they need, getting the most out of a cartridge, receiving the next one on time, and still paying you for the convenience of having your services. All in all, you’ll help them save the odd buck and keep their printing environment working smoothly.
In you they trust
Pricing aside, there are good reasons why remanufactured cartridges should be your go-to solution. They are good for the environment, for instance. By returning cartridges, enormous amounts of potentially toxic waste can be kept out of landfills, and in most cases, buy-back programs make it worth your while. With an average of a total of five life cycles, a printing budget should go a bit further when using remanufactured cartridges as opposed to purchasing a new OEM cartridge.
The money you help your customers save will hopefully find its way back into new IT department, digital transformation, and security projects as customers move slowly, step by step away from print with your help as their overall trusted partner.
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