MINOLTA-QMS has regained its number one position in the colour laser printer market with a 30.4% market share, according to the results of the recent BMI-TechKnowledge SA Annual Desktop Printer Report.
The first quarter saw MINOLTA-QMS drop to second position with a 28.5% market share, but aggressive sales and marketing campaigns in the second quarter have repositioned the company as SA leading colour laser printer seller/distributor.
MINOLTA-QMS laser printer division product manager, Marc Pillay, believes that sales have picked up in the colour printer market because more and more people are upgrading from inkjet printers to colour laser printers.
"Laser colour printers - although more expensive to purchase initially - offer lower running costs per page than inkjet printers, resulting in a lower total cost of ownership. Over a three year period, only 6% of the total cost of a typical desktop printer will come from hardware, while 94% will come from consumables such as ink, toner, paper, imaging cartridges and fusing units. Laser colour printers also offer 1200dpi print quality on normal bond paper, whereas inkjet printers require special paper to achieve the same quality," says Pillay.
Pillay adds that the growth from last quarter to this quarter has occurred mainly in the entry-level colour laser printer sectors - the "less-than six" pages per minute (ppm) category and the "10-plus" ppm category. "Minolta-QMS is the only vendor on the market to offer entry-level colour laser printers at a cost of less than R15 000.
"We have realised the importance of targeting the SOHO market with the same commitment that we target large corporate organisations and, for the first time, we have a colour laser printer in the 10ppm category, the Magicolor 3100," says Pillay.
"We believe that South Africans buy for three reasons - cost, quality and service," adds Pillay. "The Magicolor 3100 is competitively priced, and boasts standard features that include an automatic duplexer, a USB port, and a standard network card - making it fully networkable."
In addition to aggressively driving sales through its dealerships and distribution partners, Mustek, Pinnacle Micro and Printer Distribution, MINOLTA-QMS has restructured its sales division to ensure that the appropriate people are strategically placed to handle key aspects of the laser printer business.
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