Epson continues to gain market traction and achieve leadership position in its ink tank printers and projectors segments in Malaysia, driven by the company’s focus on developing its core technologies in four key pillars of innovation – inkjet, visual communications, wearables and robotics – to drive growth.
Epson Malaysia recorded consistent growth over the recent years with FY2017 following suit with a double digit 18% growth over FY2016, which saw the printer division contributing 57%, and 31% from visual products. Big market winners for the company this year with strong growth include entry level ink tank system printers, projectors and professional printers.
“2017 has been a promising year for Epson Malaysia and we have seen good market acceptance for our products, as the market recognises our heritage and expertise in developing high performance precision technologies. This has led to strong growth across various Epson product segment,” said Managing Director of Epson Malaysia, Daisuke Hori.
Epson aims to grow its overall sales revenues, focusing on the development of strategic products, such as Epson's inkjet products; the WorkForce Enterprise and WorkForce Pro (RIPS – Replaceable Ink Pack System), high brightness projectors, the ColorWorks label printers, professional printers and scanners.
“As a long-term plan, Epson will be concentrating on high growth potential markets in a range of business segments. In line with this, we’re embarking on a new brand campaign called “It’s in The Details” that differentiates Epson in the B2B market place,” he added.
Ink Tank System Printers and Business Inkjet Printing
Driven by its Micro Piezo and PrecisionCoreTM printhead technology, which has been incorporated across its business and ink tank system printers to ensure versatility, durability, quality, speed and reliability, Epson ink tank printers enjoyed 25% growth over FY16.
In FY17, Epson business inkjet printers such as WorkForce Pro and Workforce Enterprise gained much recognition and acceptance in the market. This was due to Epson’s breakthrough technology in printing innovations, as well as new partner coverage and strategic end-user engagement.
“This year, Epson will be increasing its focus on mid to high segment using ink tank system printers with Wi-Fi capabilities. We are set to maintain sales for entry level ink tank system printers, as we increase overall market share,” said Director, Sales & Marketing, Epson Malaysia, Danny Lee.
Epson targets to increase its market share (IDC) to 20% for the inkjet printer main unit, while also maintaining its No. 1 position in CISS (Continuous Ink Supply System) printers category.
“To achieve this target, Epson is increasing its effort to convert high print volume laser users, i.e. corporate and government sector, with Epson new business inkjets offering high print volume.,” added Lee.
Professional Printing
Deemed a big winner in the 2017 financial year, Epson saw strong growth for professional printing, recording overall growth of 18% with major contribution coming from signage and textile main units and consumables.
Furthermore, Epson reported double digit growth of 18% in the signage printers segment, which saw it gaining market traction and earning the No.1 market share position in the signage printer category. With 45% growth in textile printers, Epson goes on to maintain its No.1 market position for photo/graphics and textile printers segment.
This growth was made possible with strong product line up, coupled with pioneering innovation in large format graphics printing. At the core of Epson’s professional printers is its PrecisionCoreTM printhead technology consisting of the Thin-Film Piezo (TFP) print chip that delivers unmatched efficiency and quality, which helps customers to strengthen their business and lower their overall total cost of production.
“Epson’s strong performance in the digital textile printers segment is also a testament of the market acceptance of our technology and industry shift to digital to support the demand for short-run print jobs,” said Lee.
For this segment, Epson intends to maintain its No.1 market share in all genres of the market for FY2018.
Visual Communications
Despite stiff competition in this segment, Epson has achieved 29% growth for business projectors with higher contribution from project closure, while also maintaining healthyrun-rate volume.
“Superior innovations such as the revolutionary 3LCD and laser projection technology has enabled Epson to offer the market a myriad of holistic and integrated solutions in a truly immersive way in areas such as education, corporate, home, retail, as well as business and consumers,” added Lee.
In addition to strong growth in the high brightness projector segment, he added that home projectors also grew 14% due to Epson’s competitive model line-up.
Moving into FY2018, Epson aims to maintain its projector market leadership with 47% market share (FutureSource Consulting), primarily contributed by its laser desktop projectors with 4,000 - 6,000 lumen, as well as the introduction of new products for retail, F&B, and hospitality industry.
