OfficeMax, which recently kicked-off its Ink Refill program involving the installation of Ink Filling Station kiosks at nearly 900 stores by fall 2006, gauged consumer preferences by conducting a March 2006 phone survey of 1,000 U.S. computer users.
According to this OfficeMax Survey, performed by Ipsos Worldwide of Chicago:
The OfficeMax Ink Refill program will enable consumers to refill empty ink cartridges at up to 50 percent savings over buying a new cartridge, is the first step in OfficeMax's new Ink Initiative. The company-wide initiative is designed to provide OfficeMax customers with a total ink solution spanning the purchase of new ink cartridges (either branded or OfficeMax's own label), the refilling of empty ones, and the recycling of ink cartridges that have reached the end of their useful life.
The eight-foot-high, 200-pound Ink Filling Stations - created by London-based Cartucho exclusively for OfficeMax stores - have been installed in nearly 50 Chicago-area stores and will be rolled out to OfficeMax stores across the country throughout 2006. OfficeMax will charge $12.99 to $22.99 to refill an ink cartridge, depending upon the make of the printer - a savings of as much as 50 percent over buying a new one. The kiosks refill over 130 types of cartridges, using different specialty inks for different cartridges. An OfficeMax employee will run a diagnostic test on every ink cartridge brought into the store; clean each cartridge of residual ink with an atomizer; and then refill the cartridge inside a vacuum chamber to ensure quality, as an onboard computer guarantees the correct amount of ink for each cartridge. Every customer walks away with an instant "print test" strip made by their newly-refilled cartridge, produced by a printer attached to the Filling Station.
Given that most computer users replace their printer's ink cartridge 4 to 6 times a year, OfficeMax believes their Ink Filling Stations could save consumers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Customers will have the option of waiting in the store while their ink cartridges are refilled, with an opportunity to shop for other office necessities during the brief wait, or dropping the cartridges off at the OfficeMax store for later pick-up.
Because ink cartridges can be refilled between 4 to 10 times before being recycled, OfficeMax expects the Ink Refill program to eliminate thousands of pounds of plastic waste from public landfills. "Throughout the world, consumers throw out 300 million ink cartridges a year and 1.2 billion cartridges are sold each year. Because cartridges are made of materials which do not degrade in landfills for 1,000 years, empty ink cartridges are an environmental challenge," says Ryan Vero, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for OfficeMax. "Our new Ink Refill station program saves consumers money and is environmentally responsible. After the cartridges are refilled to the end of their useful life, OfficeMax will take them to recyclers who break down the materials without filling up another landfill." It takes two and a half liters of oil to make enough plastic for one cartridge, so the environmental benefit of OfficeMax's program is significant.
Chicagoans received a sneak preview of OfficeMax's Ink Filling Stations on March 24, as 50 downtown Chicago bus shelters were covered with full-color, life-size photos of male and female backs displaying tattoos that urged consumers to "Save Money on Ink." OfficeMax also unveiled a "Human Art Gallery" in front of the Art Institute of Chicago featuring temporary tattoo art - depicting eight decades of Chicago history -- painted on the bare backs of 10 male and female models. The Ink Refill launch was featured on the cover of the Chicago Tribune, and in news reports broadcast on CNN-TV and all four network-affiliate TV stations in Chicago.
Inspired by the popularity of TV shows like "Miami Ink," the OfficeMax tattoo ad campaign was helmed by OfficeMax senior vice president - marketing Bob Thacker. "The Wall Street Journal noted that one printer manufacturer made two-thirds of its profit from selling new printer cartridges, rather than printers themselves," says Thacker, a former Advertising Director for Sears and Target. "OfficeMax is taking a different strategy - assuring consumers that we'll be there for the entire lifecycle of an ink cartridge. Our customers can buy a new cartridge, refill it four or more times at OfficeMax, and then return the cartridge at the end of its life to the OfficeMax Reuse program and receive a free ream of recycled content paper as a reward. The benefits are twofold: OfficeMax customers save big money on ink, and our environment will benefit as well."
"The irony for OfficeMax customers is that in this age of digital imaging, virtual meetings and the ''paperless office,'' ink has never been more important -- and the soaring sales of ink for printers reflect that," concludes Thacker. "The worldwide inkjet cartridge market is worth $35 billion annually. OfficeMax has an opportunity to transform the way computer users relate to ink."
