OEMs Meet to Review Argentinian Market

OEMs Meet to Review Argentinian Market

HP, Brother, Xerox and Ricoh have admitted the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the consequent quarantines and lockdowns, have brought changes to the Latin print market, both in paradigms and in the user experience.

OEMs have had to adapt to these changes quickly, changing the focus of their business and concentrating their efforts on accompanying the trends towards teleworking and digital transformation.

This became more evident in a Channel Talks program, also attended by Guía del Reciclador on November 11, 2020. Damian Infer (Brother Sales Supervisor for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), Felipe Barrenechea (Manager of the Consumer Printing Category for HP Argentina were present ), Martín Perez (Xerox Product Manager of the Nexsys Argentina distributor) and Daniel Kogan (General Manager of External Market and Ricoh’s wholesale distributor) spoke openly about the changes that have been made to business models as a result.

Brother
According to Damian Infer, the home printing and low-end printer segments climbed to 70% of its total turnover.

The sale of scanners also showed growth in the digitization segment. Infer admitted the difficulty of competing with the compatible products which resulted in Brother strongly promoting its technical service and warranty strategy.

From the OEM perspective, they can understand the paradigm shift that is taking place, along with the need to be closer to the consumer.

In the face of the post-pandemic, they are very confident in their software alliance with the Paper Cut brand and are preparing for the new normal with protocols developed by doctors. In regards to launches, they are placing all bets on the new A3 HL-T4000DW and MFC-T4500DW continuous ink system equipment, since according to Brother this segment of A3 inkjet printing has been growing significantly.

HP
Felipe Barrenechea admitted that this period brought positive and negative news. On the one hand, there has been a strong increase of 25% year-on-year in the April-October quarter in the home consumption line.

But there has been a corresponding and noticeable decline in the corporate segment. The HP Neverstop Laser was one of the fastest-growing lines, driven by general online sales, which today represent between 40 to 60% of HP’s turnover.

HP considers the greatest challenge is to adapt to this online modality and they do not forecast major changes until after the first part of 2021.

Of their launches, the incorporation of the HP Smart Tank 530 and 515 of continuous ink stands out, based on their estimate that these types of devices today represent about 50% of the market. They plan to launch the new line of continuous systems later in August 2021.

Xerox
Martín Pérez, Xerox Product Manager of the distributor Nexsys Argentina, agreed with the other OEMs regarding the growth of the home segment and scanners and the drop in demand for departmental printers.

He predicted this sector will only reactivate in mid-2021.

Xerox admitted that many consumers moved away from the original input, so they see very good prospects for Xerox with their Everyday Toner line, compatible cartridges for different OEM brands and those that are manufactured by Xerox with their own guarantee and 50% cheaper compared to the originals.

They see the home segment as the greatest opportunity since they doubt that 2021 will present important changes. They have bet on remote solutions, based on the new line of A3 equipment that will be launched soon to replace the 8000.

Ricoh
Daniel Kogan, General Manager of the External Market and Ricoh’s wholesale distributor for 26 years, recognized a significant increase in sales of lower volume equipment.

He was assured that his company doubled the installed base of printers and to date, has sold 25% more printers compared to all of 2019.

Like its competitors, Ricoh suffered a drop in the departmental segment, especially in A3 equipment together with a 20-25% decrease in CPP printing.

Ricoh expects to see an acceleration of digital transformation as a challenge and trusts the cloud-based Ricoh Smart Suite software will offer customers good support for remote solutions. Facing the new normal, they estimate that the corporate segment will recover 80% during 2021 and they have great expectations of growth in equipment for the graphic and packaging market.

Gustavo Molinatti as been involved in the imaging supplies industry in Latin America for two decades. He is a partner of RT Media in publishing and events businesses and writes regularly for RT Media about the Latin American market.

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• Epson, Canon, Pantum Analyze the Print Market in Argentina
• Can Latin America Manufacture its own NBCs—and be Profitable?
• Remembering when Product Sales Increased
• Confronting Steep and Scary Changes – What is the Future?
• Epson Withdraws Lawsuit and Pays Court Costs
• HP Blocks Online Sale of Aftermarket Cartridges
• Confronting Market Challenges and Opportunities
• The Future’s Not Easy, but Not Impossible

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