Mental Toughness - Ingram Micro

Ink or
Toner
by Dmitry Sokolov
What do you do when your customer
asks for a quote on an inkjet desktop
printer Do you promptly search out a
moderately priced inkjet, or have you
ever suggested a laser printer as an
alternative
Declining technology costs and
increasing consumer education have
made a strong case for replacing
your customers’ desk-top inkjets with
laser printers. Although the MSRP
of laser products is still at least 50%
higher than of an inkjet even with
aggressive rebates, the increased
speed, efficiency and cost per page
savings are driving customers towards
laser alternatives. Even size is no longer
an issue - with models like Samsung
CLX-3170, one of the smallest laser
multifunction printers, desk space is not
compromised.
Suggesting a laser printer to your
customer holds a number of
advantages. First, from a reseller
perspective, purchase price is always
higher than an inkjet alternative, driving
the revenue numbers. At the same time,
end-users are able to take advantage of
lower total cost of ownership of laser
supplies compared to inkjet cartridges.
For instance, an inkjet printer using
a ‘standard yield’ cartridge offers
expected yield of just 125 – 200 pages.
By comparison, supplies for entrylevel
color laser printers like Samsung
CLP310 and HP CP1510 start at 1000
page yield and above.
Second, laser printers, unlike typical
inkjets, are still priced higher than
their consumables, supporting the
razor and blade sales strategy. By
comparison, typical inkjet customers
simply recycle their printer instead of
buying expensive replacement ink. With
inkjet hardware sold as a loss-leader,
each inkjet customer offers little or no
lifetime profitability for the reseller.
With laser printers, supplies sales are
expected.
Finally, network functionality, a typical
option on laser printers, opens the
conversation for additional services.
Network configuration, network
management and even print fleet
optimization can be attached to laser
hardware sales.
8 I CONNECTED I spring 09
Such increased opportunity for
attachment services, constant supplies
revenue and an improved total cost of
ownership for your customers, makes
switching from inkjet to laser a win-win
proposition.