Minolta retained its number one position in the country`s colour printer-copier segment, capturing over 35% of the total market share.
Minolta South Africa has topped the colour copier-printer market for the third consecutive year with an overall 35.1% market share for the 12 months to end 2003, according to the results of the recent InfoSource Spring 2004 survey - and the company expects to double sales this year.
Minolta South Africa colour division product manager Marianna Gdanis says the colour copier-printer market is experiencing massive growth, and Minolta South Africa is at the forefront of this boom. "In the three-month period of June to August 2004, we sold more units than in the entire 2003 calendar year," she says.
The total colour copier market for the 12 months to end December 2003 saw an 8% increase in new unit placements, with 669 new colour copier-printers placed in the market. Of the total market, more than 50% of the products came from the 13-29 copy per minute (cpm) category. Minolta South Africa cornered a massive 42.7% of the market in this segment, which can be attributed to the award-winning CF2002 product which has been remarkably well received.
Gdanis says the research results show that the demand for faster and more sophisticated colour copier-printers is growing. The low volume colour copiers (which deliver 1-12 cpm) decreased from 52.8% of the market in 2002 to only 25% of the market in 2003, while the high volume copiers (30+ cpm) increased from only 1.4% of the market in 2002, to 24.6% of the market in 2003. "With the demand for colour output on the increase, the market is just not interested in anything slower than 20cpm," she says.
Minolta South Africa secured a 39% market in the high volume 30-49cpm category off a zero base following the introduction of the 31cpm CF3102 colour copier-printer.
Minolta South Africa MD Alan Griffith says the success of the colour division was cited as one of the major reasons the company was recently awarded the distribution rights for the Konica Minolta branded business technology products following the worldwide merger.
"Minolta South Africa has achieved greater market share for Minolta products in SA than any other Minolta distributor in the world," he says.
Griffith says although Minolta South Africa`s colour division is hoping to increase market share for the 2004 calendar year, the merger with Konica is not expected to radically boost market share in this sector, as the standalone Konica brands only secured 2.7% of the market in the 2003 results.
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