Original OEM vendors face stiff competition
JAN
2007 ORIGINAL vendors in Malaysia’s laser toner and ink jet cartridge
market continue to face stiff competition from third-party suppliers
that offer cheaper alternatives, research by IDC Malaysia shows.IDC is
a global provider of market intelligence and service for the
information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology
markets.In its latest quarter report, IDC said the revenue share of
original vendors had dropped from over 80 per cent last year to 76-77
per cent in the third quarter of 2006.”These third-party suppliers have
consistently improved and developed new technology to catch up with
original vendors. The better technology will enhance users’ confidence
when using third-party laser toners.”In a few developed countries in
Asia Pacific, refilled and remanufactured toners are more popular due
to recycling purposes. Malaysia is anticipated to follow the similar
trend in the future,” IDC said in the statement.IDC defines third-party
suppliers as non-printer vendors who manufacture supplies to be used on
the hardware produced by the printer vendors.”Original vendors such as
Brother, Canon, Epson, HP and Lexmark face stiff competition in the ink
cartridge market as there are several successful local third-party
suppliers such as Esy, SaintInk and Imprint that offer low-priced
products, which attract users to purchase these compatible products,”
Emily Tee, Peripherals Research Analyst at IDC Malaysia said in the
statement.IDC said Malaysia’s total consumables market (ink cartridges
and laser toner) reached US$68 million (RM240.7 million) in the third
quarter of 2006.Laser toner registered 14 per cent sequential growth,
or US$41 million (RM145 million) in the quarter, while the ink
cartridge market contributed 40 per cent revenue share, or US$27
million (RM95.6 million), during the period.Laser toner maintained its
revenue domination in the Malaysia printer consumables market, which
made up 60 per cent of revenue share in the quarter.In terms of unit
shipments, however, ink cartridge took the lead with more than a 83 per
cent share.