Canon eyes Rs 200 cr from inkjet printers biz; woos students

Technology giant Canon India aims to garner Rs 200 crore revenue this year from inkjet printers as it repositions to woo school students to push sales from this segment.
Canon, which has 20 products under 'Pixma' brand in the inkjet category, will also bring out a new campaign as well as roll out new products to grow its market share to 25 per cent this year.
"We wanted to connect with school going kids and engage with them. Students of today are comfortable using smart devices including cloud and wi-fi printing. Our new PIXMA Ink Efficient range is designed to combine creative printing with incredible cost-per-print savings," Canon India Executive Vice President Alok Bharadwaj told PTI.

Canon will invest Rs 18 crore in advertising and promotions for the new campaign, aimed at students aged 9-19 years, he added.
"While students can be great influencers for purchasing decision today, they are also customers of tomorrow. With 300 million students in India, building our brand in their mind is a big business of tomorrow for us," he said.
The inkjet printer market is estimated to be growing at about eight per cent (12 lakh units annually), of which a substantial number is consumed by students given its economical printing rate. Canon claims to have 23 per cent share of the segment.

"We are aiming to grow our inkjet printer business to Rs 200 crore by year-end. We aim to capture 25 per cent market share," Bharadwaj said.
The company also plans to expand its range with the introduction of newer models around the festive season.
"While the (inkjet) segment is growing in single digits, we are growing at over 10 per cent. To continue the growth trajectory, we will introduce newer models as well as double our retail presence by end of 2016 from 1,000 retail outlets now," Bharadwaj said.