Abhinav Lal

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Posted on 06-07-2010

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We recently spoke with Mr. Raj Kumar Rishi, Director – Inkjet & Web Solutions and Consumer Business, Hewlett-Packard India, about the latest printing trends in consumer segment, and were not only enlightened about what the masses want, but also, about how HP tries to give it to them, and a range of HP printers.

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To start off, Mr. Rishi described how there is a major market overlap between SMB and consumer segments for higher end inkjet printers. While this may seem a bit contradictory at first, it’s absolutely natural, where a small business or start-up would invest in an inkjet solution for their daily needs, instead of a laser printing solution.

Mr. Rishi also explained that while much of printing is done away with in the present days of email and the internet, the amount of information has gone up substantially, in fact increasing the total volume of printed mater.

Keeping this in mind, he highlighted the major trends in consumer inkjet printing as seen by HP, the biggest manufacturer of printers in the world:

1. Multi-function devices
   The trend of migrating from single function printers to multi-function printers has been steadily increasing, with consumers realising the value of money they offer, apart from complete solutions right at home.
2. Colour capable printers are a must
   HP has noticed that, whether or not consumers print colour on a daily basis, they would want a colour printer, just on the off chance that they might require it. This is why HP offers colour printers starting from a very low price, to cater to every possible user.
3. Wireless printers
   There is a gradually growing demand for wireless capable printers, some of which provide remote printing, Bluetooth and WiFi printing options, and others, are complete web-enabled printers, which don’t need a computer at all to download and print your images and documents. This is where sites like HP’s Snapfish are great tools, which apart from sharing and customization options, allow users to print photos directly, without requiring a PC. With a PC connected however, you can also perform selective printing, where you can choose exactly what you want to print on a website or document, and print only that. This is a very fast evolving segment, and you can expect new types of web-enabled printers every 6 months.
4. Touch-enabled printers
   User interface was always important, and instead cluttering the printer with tens of buttons, HP has started providing consumers with touch screen printers, which enables the user to access many functions and manage settings in a more intuitive manner.
5. Total cost of ownership
   According to HP, things have changed since 2009, when the world economy really suffered. Consumers have become very knowledgeable about their requirements since, and think hard about which printer is best suited to their needs. This means that consumers have now begun to think about the total cost of ownership, which includes the running cost, instead of just the initial cost of the printer.

After reading the trends in consumer printing, you will have gathered that HP would need to provide a wide range of printers to cater to every consumer segment and usage pattern. And they do. Here are the maximum retail price points for their home inkjet printer categories:

• HP DeskJet D1668 (Single function device) – Rs. 2,040
• HP DeskJet F2418 (Multi-function device, or, All in One) – Rs. 3,927
• HP Photosmart C4688 – Rs. 6,267
• HP Photosmart premium fax C309A (All in one) – Rs. 20,558

HP’s range of multi-function or All-in-One devices, which range from 3-in-1, to 4-in-1, and 5-in-1 devices the last of which includes a printer, scanner, photocopier, fax, and phone.

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