International Imaging Technology Council

Feature Article

by Luke Goldberg, Future Graphics

IMAGING SPECTRUM MAGAZINE

Managing Real World

Quality Expectations

Editors Note: Luke Goldberg will be an instructor and panelist at the

2006 Intl ITC Conference in Orlando, Florida in May. Do not miss his
education sessions: Growth Opportunities: Entry Level Color Laser
on Thursday, May 11; and Making Your Business Work for You on
Friday, May 12.
n this two-part article, we will examine the proper way in
which to educate customers in regards to real world product performance/quality expectations. We will examine the
different sales channels and the product categories within each,
and see how the customers expectations vary across the channels
and product lines based on the intended use of a printer in a real
world application.
Copyright 2006 Imaging Spectrum and its licensors.All rights reserved.

Five Customer Types and Channels

Every printer sold is marketed and positioned by the OEM
specifically for one of five distinct sales channels as defined in the
chart (see Figure 1 at right.) Each of these five customer types has
distinct expectations and product requirements that are based on
application and usage.
Positioning of Remanufactured Products
In the past, our industry made mistakes in its efforts to govern the
expectations of customers. Early, poor quality issues led the industry to oversell the quality benefits of a compatible/remanufactured

cartridge.A true quality product stands on its own. Too much trumpeting of quality always raises a red flag. The OEM sells quality as an
assumed benefit without disclosing the specifics.

Luke Goldberg is responsible for developing overall market/industry analysis and sales trends, expanding
dealer channels and managing the Future Graphics sales team of professionals as part of the new product development and marketing/promotions team. He has more than 14 years of experience in the
imaging supplies industry. He may be reached at 800-394-9900.

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IMAGING SPECTRUM MAGAZINE

Feature Article
In my opinion remanufactured products should be sold and positioned as a cost-savings alternative product to the OEM, offering
consumers a choice, environmental benefits and acceptable quality.
Also, our industry has overused the adage that all products meet or
exceed the OEM standard. Clearly, they do not. Historical examples
illustrating this include: Monochrome gray scales/resolution
there is no aftermarket 6 micron aftermarket toner and, therefore,
true 1200 dpi resolution is impossible.
If a remanufacturer encounters an end user requiring true 1200 dpi
resolution for a niche application, he would be overselling the capability of the aftermarket components in achieving these results.
Additionally, workgroup color quality remains elusive to the aftermarket due to availability of high-quality matched systems and a
shortage of needed materials such as developer rollers, adder rollers
and even toners.
A Question of Quality
Hewlett-Packard (HP) has just released a totally renewed line of
mid-range and workgroup color printers including the HP 3800, HP
4700 etc. HP has gone so far as to sub-brand its toner as Color
sphere in order to differentiate itself from an aftermarket that is still
struggling to get a handle on the three-year-old HP 4600. Another
example of this on the inkjet side is inkjet archival qualities, water
fastness, dry times, etc. Epson with its Durabright and HP with its

International Imaging Technology Council

Vivera have played the marketing card that their prints will last 100,
and 120 years respectively, under glass without fading.
Clearly the aftermarket is just learning how to determine the
archival qualities of its inks and is not in a position yet to compete
with these claims. Hopefully, with the advent of the STMC (Standardized Test Methods Committee) for inkjet, there will be a correlative basis for comparing aftermarket inks to the OEM in order
to determine just how archival aftermarket products are. I also do
not know of an aftermarket ink that will allow submersion in
water without running as one would see with a pigmented Lexmark or Epson Durabright ink. Can the aftermarket meet or
exceed this OEM standard? Does it really matter? How many consumers care whether or not they can spill their beer on their photos? Do they care that in 120 years their photos will need to be
re-printed?
The point is that in many areas the aftermarket has done an excellent job in achieving a standard that is acceptable to as much as 30
percent of the consumers out there. Aftermarket quality continues
to improve, and in many cases it can get close to the standard of the
OEM or even match it. The purpose of this article is to look at each
product line with an eye to the true expectation of end users in
order to determine what will be acceptable to customers and to
properly manage their expectations. Improper management of their
quality expectations will mean that a remanufacturer will not get a
reorder, whereas proper management will endear the company to its
customer because he or she has been treated with the respect that all
consumers wantand that is to be given the facts so that he can
make an informed decision.
Review of Real World Printer Usage/User Expectation
With laser monochrome, as with all product categories, printers
must be broken down into at least two segments: SOHO/SMB/Entry
Level and Workgroup. Within each product category the user will
have distinctly different usage patterns and, therefore, distinctly different expectations. In this part of the two-part article we will examine the trends in laser toner printer usage in the SOHO/SMB/Entry
Level segment. In the second part of the article, which will appear in
Imaging Spectrum next month, we will look at monochrome laser,
color laser and inkjet in the Workgroup segment.
Entry-level Monochrome Laser Trends
Hardware features and speed have been increasing while printer
costs have decreased dramatically in the last two years. Today, the
average single function monochrome entry-level laser such as the
Dell 1100, Samsung ML2010, Page Works 1350W or Lexmark E220/
230 can cost less than $100 at retail with rebates.
The average multifunctional printer/copier (MFP/MFC)printing, faxing, scanning and copying; also called AIO or All-In-One
costs less than $200. Brother is a leader with these products and has
done exceptionally well in laser- and ink-based AIO printers, espe-

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Goldberg: Managing Real World Quality Expectations

cially with the huge success of its tn/dr350 engine. Samsung also is
strong with multifunctionals based on both the ml1710 engine
(scx4216) and based on the newer ml 2010 engine.
In many cases these printers cost almost as much as the consumables themselves. Todays OEM selling strategy is to offer faster, feature-laden printers at very low costs to attract small businesses
looking to have one device for all-purpose printing or to attract a
home-office consumer looking for low-cost printing solutions.
Because of this razor and blade selling strategy, consumers who
reorder their OEM consumables often get a case of severe sticker
shock when they realize that the consumables may cost more than
the printer itself. This scenario creates huge aftermarket demand and
is a big factor in expanding the growth of the aftermarket across all
SOHO product categories. Without this OEM selling strategy and an
eager public seeking alternative cost-saving products, there would
not be the growth in retail franchising or e-commerce reselling of
these types of products that we see today in the aftermarket.
Quality Expectations for Entry-level Monochrome Users
These multifunctional products are sold and positioned as low-cost
printing devices for small business and home users. Even if they are
network capable, they are usually host-based, lower-volume
machines, used for text printing or faxing and general office usage.
Users of these printers are looking for low cost and are not typically
employing the equipment for high-volume external presentations,
graphics or other professional usages. They are not designed for this
and, therefore, the users do not have very high quality expectations.
This is especially true for MFC usage where copy and fax quality is
not highly scrutinized. The reasoning is, generally, as long as it is
readable, it is good enough.

These users are not on cost-per-page programs and are not analyzing total cost of ownership; therefore, they are clueless as to page
yield. Our customers typically do not do much STMC-type testing
for these kinds of printers; therefore, shortfalls on yield that are not
dramatic in these devices are also not an issue.
As long as there are no hard failures that show up early on (back
grounding, improper fusing, etc.), it is unlikely that a failure that
was encountered in stress testing would ever occur. For example,
if we only show a failure in continuous testing to life that does
not show up in single page mode, this would not be a real world
failure since the typical print job for a printer like this is one to
five pages followed by inactivity for some time. Home printing
would be an example of how most printing is done in the SOHO
environment.
In Part II of this series we will look at the printing environment and
customer expectation for each of the product categories and sales
channels. In the final analysis this should be helpful in formulating
and marketing a sales plan that targets each channel based on usage
criteria. Marketing plans from companies such as HP do not
attempt to treat users in each different channel with one broad
stroke. They market and position product based on the type of
printer, its intended usage and the user channel. If the aftermarket
does not segment its own marketing in a similar fashion, we will not
successfully appeal to the disparate needs of consumers and users
across the entire sales channel spectrum.

www.i-itc.org International Imaging Technology Council March 2006 Imaging Spectrum 53