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Yesterday's Emerging Trends Have Arrived

by Craig Berosh · Recharger Magazine · January 1, 2008 - page(s): 44-58

Once again, give credit to the leaders of the imaging supplies aftermarket for identifying and reacting to market trends. Trends that were whispers five years ago are now, loud and clear, conversational topics of fact. What was once emerging has now arrived.

Selling solutions has gone from an ambiguous concept to, in some cases, a well-defined total program offered through a convergence of cartridge builder and IT provider. In today’s market no company wants to be labeled as simply a cartridge provider. In marketing terms, the one-stop shop has been upgraded to the total solutions provider. The transition has some high-volume remanufacturers talking software alongside quality, price and availability.

“We aren’t just a cartridge manufacturer anymore. We are a software company,” said Ray Loisel, president of LMI Solutions in Arizona. “The last three years we have been growing at about 25 to 30 percent a year and my issue is controlling the growth on the print management side of the company. I’m also having issues with keeping up with manufacturing, keeping up with new products coming out from HP and the other vendors, but we feel that [print management] is the future of this business.”

Industry members for years have been speaking about, and preparing for, the emerging color market. It was inevitable. Now, some have seen signs that the word “emerging” can finally be omitted. The substantial efforts by the original printer manufacturers to place affordable color hardware — backed by aggressive marketing campaigns — in offices and homes around the world have begun to take hold. The aftermarket companies that have been gearing up for nearly a decade are seeing the push begin, at last, to pay off.

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