Though most of us know how colors affects our emotions, moods, health, well being,energy,mind and spiritual awareness at both a conscious and subconscious level, we do not add colours to our printed communication due to the affordability factor.Colours on print stayed as dream till ESY INDIA launched the magic of colour printing at 10 paisa. The slogan “Amazing Prints at affordable price” had literally shaken the image printing space whether it is home, office or professional printing. The man, who made colour printing affordable to all, Mr. V.P. Sajeevan, CEO, ESY INDIA shares his views with IT Voice.
Shweta) It’s been a while since the ESYINK entered in to Indian market. How has been response to the CISS technology?
Mr. Sajeevan) India is one of the top 5 nations who print above 100 billion pages in a year.As
per the latest projections there will be 140 billion pages printed in the year 2014.Home printing is less than 5% of the total prints taken, though it’s growing faster year after year. The printing in business segment is large in terms of quantity and revenue and still in the growth phase. The evolution in the in-house printing began with Dot matrix Printing followed by Inkjet and Laser. Due to the high cost of printing Inkjet was losing share in the business segment and Laser became prominent. Though leading Inkjet Printer brands could launch finest colour & photo printers at affordable cost, they could not make great impact in the home & office due to high cost of printing. Now here ESYINK comes into the picture as we launched CISS technology (Continuous Ink Supply Systems). ESYINK could bring down the cost of printing by 90% and made colour printing very much affordable.
The brands ESYINK and ESYJET are owned by ESY INDIA, which is subsidiary of ESY Group of Companies, Malaysia. Today ESY India offers complete solutions on business printing in mono & colour and also in multiple sizes like A4, A3 and A3+. Amazing Prints at lowest cost is the driving slogan for ESY India and customers who are using the same are vouching the slogan. Since ESY INDIA could offer high quality ink that matches the OEM standards and support network across the country could get amazing acceptance from Indian consumers. ESY India was awarded for setting the trend for low cost printing in the country and also became the number one branded CISS in the country.
As far as the market potential is concerned it is for sure that the future is CISS.As per a recent study the market size of CISS in the year 2014 will be 400000 units. Projected growth for next year is around 35%.The inspiring fact is the projected CAGR till 2017 is also 35%. This shows the size of the growing market. Another interesting factor is that the printing market is also growing. ESY INDIA has set a goal of attaining Rs.300 annual turnover by 2016.
Shweta) Do you think the success of CISS is hugely attributed to the quality of ink used and its cost-effective packaging?
Mr. Sajeevan) Though Indian consumers are very cautious on cost they never compromise on quality.We can be convinced on this while we review the history of rise and fall of brands that offered very low prices by compromising quality.Since India is a young nation, in terms of the average age of people, it reflects in the buying decisions too. The consumer prefers a product that offers quality and affordability.
Before ESY INDIA entered in Indian market the large chunk of CISS were imported and used to sell in the market as low cost printing solution. Since the quality of the ink and competency in technical skills of people, who were involved, were very low it could not lure Indian consumers though the prices were low. Also there were no professionally qualified people and process to support post-sales complications.
This led to major dissatisfaction in the user fraternity and credibility of the CISS was eroded. The preliminary survey could help ESY INDIA to understand and assess the challenges and opportunities. Only those brands that have quality and reliable Ink, supported with robust service network across the country can survive in this market. This will be a stand-alone industry and we expect other big brands will be entering to Indian market to explore the growing CISS. The first challenge for ESY India was to win confidence of consumers who had bitter experience with the low cost compatibility ink. The proven track records and success in the other countries helped ESY to establish well in India. Being one of the largest OEM Ink manufacturers ESY Group could offer high quality Ink that matches the Printer OEM specifications.
Shweta) Please elaborate on the company’s Go to Market strategy?
Mr. Sajeevan) ESY INDIA is serious on our slogan “Amazing Prints at affordable price”. We wanted to take this magic of 10 paisa per colour print across the country. Part of the strategy ESY India will promote high quality CISS solutions only for Canon PIXMA Printers in India.
The first step taken was investing in setting up robust channel network and developing competent after sales support system across the country. Now the company has nearly 5000 retail partners across the Country, through them we are selling ESYINK/ESYJET. ESY India has 90+ city /region distributors to cater 580 towns in India.Though we have received lucrative opportunities to promote ESYINK through e stores we are going carefully so that it will not upset our channel fraternity, which is the backbone of our success.
Shweta) As ESYINK works with large channel community across extended product portfolio, what’s the key message to partners at large?
Mr. Sajeevan) As all of us are aware that the world is going through a tough time and sustaining in the tough tides is the biggest challenge. When the market takes long time to decide the buying it makes the buyer more informative in terms of feature, advantage and benefit of the products & services. Here he/she expects the seller or service to act as consultant to offer a right product or service and not just a trading outlet. Here comes the role of understanding the requirement of the consumer and acting upon to meet the same. The product & services what they offer to consumer makes them to visit again to same seller or service provider and to refer to their friends and social circle.
The channel partner must invest in training his sales & service team to address consumer needs & support. Also one must take extra care to choose a right product or brand so that they can meet the requirement and not letting down the trust of the buyers. The channel partner must take time to discuss with the vendor to find ways means to sell more and gain better profitability. Also must the partner should participate in Vendor meetings or channel meetings organized by brands to learn new trends and ideas. Just remember building a brand is a long-term exercise and it’s nothing but building trust by offering quality products & services.
Shweta) With competition increasing in this segment, service in addition will play an important role to maintain the brand name of the company? Please comment.
Mr. Sajeevan) ESY India believes that losing a sale can be recovered later but losing trust on poor performance or service will be a loss forever.
ESY INDIA has two CISS brands and those are ESYINK and ESYJET. ESY has technical advantages compared to competitions and those are efficient coolant elements for heat & heal process and Finest Micro ink (up to 1 pL) for seamless fire & follow. These advantages ensure high quality prints and protection for print heads. Being the largest INK OEM in Asia ESYINK/ESYJET is meeting all safety requirement including Europe and US standards. Since ESYINK/ESYJET have micro ink which is heated and fired as Nano bubble on to paper. There are very rare chances of ink leakage or excess vaporisation. This drives for fullest exploration of ink usage and deliver high yield.
The ESY CISS Chambers are designed based on chromo pressure technology to supply seam less and uniform droplets to the print heads. ESY offers anti glued rubber tracks for bubble less delivery of ink droplets. ESYJET comes with stylish mirror finish black kit that will add up the aesthetics of the Printer.
ESY India offers complete printing solutions for homes, offices, Education institutes, Government departments, Scientific and Engineering graphs and professional photo printing etc. The basic proposition is cost saving on colour printing. By using ESY products the consumers can enjoy colour prints at 10 paisa per print. That too in stunning quality.
Highly experienced, passionate and well-trained people are managing the core business of ESY India. Committed partners across country make ESY India a stronger brand in terms of reach and after sales support.
Since installation is the key area for performance, ESY India is very serious on partner training. It’s a continuous improvement process. We have full-fledged training centers in all major 8 Cities and exclusive training department headed by a national head.
ESY India could do 165 training programs in the year 2013. We have created a concept called EEE (ESYINDIA Efficient Engineer) who will get a comprehensive training from us. We have more than 750 EEE across the country today. We provide three level training- Online, classroom and on field training. After successful completion of these training the EEE certifications will be done. For Channel partners who are only in to sales we have selling skills program where in the Unique Selling Proposition is disseminated to channel team. This would also help to minimize wrong or over selling.
Sales training had been done in 36 cities to cover 500 more towns. We encourage our channel partners and sales people to remain connected with us through social media like Facebook for regular update and their feedback. This is helping us to get ground realities without any filters. ESY India has more than 75000 fans in Facebook. This was possible due to strong drive by the channel fraternity. As per Facebook marketing team ESY India is one of the few companies who could get large number of fans within a short span of time. ESY India thanks our channel fraternity for the same. We are happy to see that increased number of visitors to our web site www.esy.co.in to understand the products & services.
Shweta) What has been your greatest achievement till date? What did you learn from it?
Mr. Sajeevan) I feel my greatest achievement is to be able to bring this wonderful solution of low cost printing to India, also build a robust channel network across India so that this solution could reach all the Indian consumers. This has thereby enabled me to make ESY a leading brand in imaging & printing industry.
The learning is that a right product with right channel network and support infrastructure can win you the market.
ABOUT ESY INDIA
ESY INDIA is the indian arm for Pineapple Resources Berhad (PRB), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. PRB is leader in consumer printing INK research & manufacturing. ESYINK is developed & promoted by PRB Malaysia.ESYINK ,ESYJET are the brand names of popular CISS Kit & INK in Malaysia . ESYINK is developed & promoted by Pineapple Resources Berhad (formerly known as Discomp Berhad) based in Kuala Lumpur.
