FAKE CONSUMABLES

Fakes are rampant...

Fakes are definitely moving in the market and I feel their share could be anywhere around 25 percent. Every now and then you see ads that promise to pay you for used cartridges. Where do you think these land up? They are re-inked and re-packaged and pushed back into the market.

Vendors’ efforts are insufficient...



Principals are definitely working is this direction. But we need to ask ourselves if the efforts are sufficient. To get desired results, vendors need to work hand in hand with the partners. And any partner would be more than willing to contribute.

Differentiated packaging alone does not help...



The idea of making pilfer-proof and differentiated packaging does not help too much. The ones engaging in the spurious products have the capability to replicate that. More so majority of the customers don´t make the effort of verifying at the time of purchase. And it is only when it starts to trouble the user, he realizes the gravity of the situation.

Activities will help...



Customer education, coupled with ground-level activities like road shows and shop-front campaigns, will help the company in its objective of battling the menace. To reach out to end-customers is a mammoth task. And this is where the partners can contribute their bit. Active channel participation will help. But here again there is a catch. Partners are not adequately trained to address customer queries. Training of partners is not undertaken and they are therefore not in a position to do any value-add. This needs to be addressed.

Effective communication useful too...



Activities are also a type of communication. And no frills-attached communication, both to the partner and the end-user will have an impact. Apart from HP, no other principal has a consumable

helpline.

Incentivize the customer...



The customer needs to be incentivized to use genuine consumables. Rather than bundling freebies with consumables, vendors should incentivize the customer on the return of used cartridges. One could give the customer a cash discount on the purchase of the next consumable item. This will also lead to the customer buying from authorized channel. Also the used cartridges collected could then be destroyed.

Fakes are an issue...

Fakes are definitely an issue that we are working hard to address through a multi-pronged strategy. The problem becomes all the more acute because it is becoming increasingly difficult to differentiate the original from the fakes. But the problems affecting different vendors are different. For instance, the problem of coming to terms with compatible cartridges for us is a bigger issue.

We are following a multi-pronged strategy...



The problem has two facets, the suppliers and the users. We are battling the problem from both the sides. On the customers´ front we are ensuring that they are educated about the benefits of using genuine consumables. We regularly run loyalty programs for our partners to see that they don´t indulge in this kind of business. 

Tamper-proof packaging...



A measure that addresses this problem both from the seller and buyer sides is tamper-proof packaging. The genuine packs of almost all vendors including Epson´s carry a hologram that cannot be duplicated. It is not too much of an effort that the customer has to make to identify the fake from the genuine. It also acts as a deterrent for the seller of fakes. And we have invested in educating both the channel and the user about the issue. 

End-customer education is top priority...



We are investing heavily in ensuring that the end-



customer has all information necessary to make an 


informed decision. There is information about the genuine consumables on the printer cartons too. We regularly supply a lot of PoP material in the form of posters and danglers to partners addressing the issue. Channel partners are regularly and adequately trained to take up the issue with their corporate customers, to begin with. We also have a separate section on our web site to address this issue.

It is a continuous process...



Efforts to address the issue are often fine-tuned depending on the feedback we get from our partners and users. We value the feedback and try and satisfy their needs. It is a process that we are constantly working on to improve. 

Get the customer in the loop...



Getting the customer in the loop helps. We have given customers rebates on return of used cartridges and that brought a significant jump in our consumable sales. Many companies are adopting systems to get such a process in place.