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Why has Cartridge World entered India when smaller refillers monopolize
the refilling business?
Cartridge World was founded in South Australia in 1997. Today, it has over
1,500 stores and retail revenues of more than $350 mn worldwide. It works on the
unique concept of refilling printer cartridges with guaranteed as good as
new performance, savings and a process encouraging reuse, thereby saving the
environment also.
How big is the opportunity for organized players in a largely fragmented
market?
Today, refilling is a bad word due to the way India has been refilling over
the years. There are very few or no specialized refilling stores. Refilling in
most cases is not done scientifically; a cartridge is treated like a container
and ink- like colored water. The result thus is a bad product. The fact is that
the cartridge is the most sensitive part of the printing process and the quality
of printing depends primarily on the quality of cartridge, not the printer.
The key to success with this segment is differentiating properly and customer
education. The organized segment of the aftermarket industry needs to put in
extra effort to interact and educate this segment effectively about the benefits
of scientific refilling.
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Naveen Rakhecha, CEO,
South Asia, Cartridge World |
How huge is the refilling industry and at what pace is it growing?
Globally, digital imaging is a $101 bn opportunity, 65% of which belongs to
cartridges alone. In India, industry estimates reflect that printer consumables
are a Rs 2,500 crore opportunity, growing at over 30% y-o-y. We launched our
first store in India in November 2006. We have twelve operational stores across
seven citiesfour in Mumbai, two in Kolkata, two in Delhi, one each in
Bangalore, Varanasi, Nagpur, and Jaipur.
Your marketing and sales strategy in India...
Our strategy is to educate, communicate and demonstrate. We educate
customers and communicate the benefits of refilling. And continuously
demonstrate quality service. We use a mix of above the line and below the line
marketing activities to create awareness and post-launch increase footfalls and
sales of our stores.
Charu Khera
maildqindia@cybermedia.co.in
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