Tag: Epson

TD SYNNEX gives partners a boost with Epson

Posted on February 22, 2024 by - News

TD SYNNEX has launched a new service to help its partners offer top-notch printing solutions to their customers

The outfit has partnered with Epson to offer its partners the Workforce Enterprise series of A3 copiers and printers. This means partners can provide customers with remote monitoring, automatic cartridge replacement, on-site warranty cover, and the energy- and waste-saving benefits of Epson’s unique Heat-Free inkjet technology from the moment they install them.

The new service, dubbed OpenMPS, lets partners manage customers’ printing devices with automatic shipments of supplies, remote monitoring of print devices, and on-site warranty cover. Partners have complete control over customer pricing and get alerts when consumables orders are placed. Smart dashboarding and full reporting let them see all orders and shipments in one place, and enhanced data checking protects against fraud.

TD SYNNEX UK managed print boss Peter Lunn said adding the Epson Workforce series to OpenMPS allows partners to offer a complete service on these devices. This is a big deal because, as well as making OpenMPS even more handy, there have been few A3 options for partners to sell.

Synaxon announces partnership with UFP

Posted on February 9, 2022 by - News

Channel services outfit Synaxon is teaming up with specialist print products distributor UFP.

The agreement means resellers now have access to UFP’s expansive specialist print and IT portfolio through Synaxon’s online procurement platform EGIS.

In a statement Synaxon said that UFP brings the total number of distributors on the platform to 40 and broadens the range of offerings available to resellers, retailers, and office product suppliers.

UK MD Mike Barron said that UFP was a valuable addition to EGIS. “It’s a thriving and dynamic business built on delivering the best products and services and we’re delighted to have them onboard.”

Epson UK launches ReadyPrint

Posted on May 1, 2020 by - News

Epson UK has launched ReadyPrint, its first subscription printing service for its consumer cartridge printer models.

ReadyPrint claims that it will give customers savings of up to 70 percent on print costs with the added convenience of new ink delivered straight to their door. Epson’s cartridge-free EcoTank printers will be also soon be added into the ReadyPrint service.

The outfit is hoping that its service will find a place for those locked in during the Coronavirus and needing printers for home use.

To help ease costs during this challenging time, Epson is offering its monthly subscription service, ReadyPrint Flex, for free for an initial three-month launch period until 31 July 2020.

Social Print and Copy teams up with Epson

Posted on February 12, 2020 by - News

Social Print & Copy [SP&C], Scotland’s first social enterprise within the print and copier sector, has partnered with printing manufacturer Epson, largely thanks to its sustainability goals.

SP&C will donate profits back to the charity sector through a community grants program due to be launched later this year.

SP&C will stock and sell Epson printers due to their low-energy consumption, low waste and low costs to the customer. While their core market is print and copier solutions, SP&C will also look at widening its product offering towards large format print and projectors.

Epson reinforces complete indirect strategy

Posted on May 16, 2019 by - News

Printer maker Epson has launched an expanded Partner Programme to cover its business printers, scanners and displayse. It means Epson now provides dedicated benefits to its value and solutions partners, including dedicated account management and access to vertical end user sales teams.

Chris Smith, head of business sales at Epson UK, said: “We do not sell direct. We will only sell through our resellers, and with recent developments within the channel we felt now it was time to further prove our commitment.

Epson goes on the road

Posted on October 3, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220Epson is bringing its Reseller Roadshow to the UK and Ireland between 2 October and 22  November 2018, to showcase its latest range of print, projection and scan products and solutions. The programme will also feature insights from world-class guest speakers on a range of different subject areas that impact the channel.

The Reseller Roadshow, which will visit five different cities across England, Ireland and Scotland, will outline the power of business inkjet technology, where Epson says it has seen an enormous growth in sales in the last 12 months. Attendees will learn how making the switch from laser to inkjet can deliver significant value to the channel – driving the shift to make print a contractual, and not transactional, business.

Joining the roadshow as a guest speaker is print industry expert and thought leader, Mick Heys, Vice President, European Imaging, Printing and Document Solutions (IPDS) at IDC. Mr Heys will be at each roadshow event, delivering his views about print industry trends and the evolving IPDS landscape.

The roadshow will highlight why size matters in projection and how document management – which Epson thinks is of utmost importance in today’s compliancy landscape – is made easy with its Document Capture Suite.

The agenda also focuses heavily on CSR trends and the many opportunities these present for the channel. Attendees will find out how inkjet printing can help keep both costs and energy emissions down – Epson has found that companies could save up to £157 million on their energy bill and 333,041 metric tons of CO2 emissions in Europe over four years, as a result of opting for inkjet over laser[1].

Leo Johnson, Head of PwC’s Disruption practice, and presenter of Radio 4’s flagship series FutureProofing, will also join the Reseller Roadshow to discuss how CSR is reshaping business and society.

Darren Phelps, Executive Director Europe – Value Partner Channel for Epson Europe, said: “We are dedicated to offering businesses across Europe cost-effective and efficient technology that is better for the environment. An example of this in action are the advances we’ve made in inkjet technology, which uses up to 96 percent less energy, produces up to 92 per cent less CO2, and achieves up to 99 oer cent less waste than laser technology.

More information about, and registration for, the Reseller Roadshow events – which take place in London (2  October), Coventry (18 October), Manchester (25 October), Edinburgh (13 November) and Dublin (22 November) – is available here.

 

Hills Components shuts down

Posted on October 1, 2018 by - News

banner_220x220After 45 years in business Hills Components has ceased trading.

The Watford-based firm described itself as a trade and educational supplier, primarily offering IT hardware and accessories to its clients. It flogged Acer, Dell and Epson gear and hired 20.

It  went into liquidation on 13 September, appointing Mercer & Hole accountants on the same day. Apparently the outfit had acquired too much debt and had an inventory of outdated stock.

The e-tailer reported assets of £2 million in its financial 2017, a lot of that stock was outdated and was removed from the company’s catalogue, causing it to sit unsold.

This sort of problem is typical issue for many channel players who become significantly overstocked and the price comes down. The only way to turn the product into cash is to  lose money on it.

 

Epson signs up Network Group’s reseller network

Posted on August 8, 2018 by - News

Epson is extending its reseller numbers to deliver its pay-as-you-go ink replenishment service.

The first partnership agreement for its ReadyInk programme that provides customers with a reseller-fulfilled pay-as-you-go ink replenishment programme has been signed with Network Group.

Network Group will be offering a 360ink programme through the groups’ 71 resellers across the UK.

ReadyInk works with Epson monitoring registered customers and then shares that information with the Network Group. Most of the vendor’s printers released after 2013 come with support for the replenishment service already built in.

The programme is pitched as an alternative to monthly payment systems with the focus being on pay-as-you-go. There can also be some promotions that resellers can pass on to customers.

Mauro Bartoletti, European head of retail, Epson said: “Giving users what they want and need is at the heart of everything we do – and by working with Network Group to deliver this programme, we are also helping resellers strengthen customer retention and grow sales in an increasingly challenging market.”

 

XBM opens Birmingham office

Posted on May 2, 2018 by - News

Epson reseller partner XBMhas opened an office in Birmingham, its first in the Midlands.

The print management company, founded and headquartered in Leeds, used £235,000 of funding from NatWest to expand its presence outside the North of England.

XBM’s Birmingham office, located in Aston, will create 10 new jobs for the area, adding to its 35 strong headcount across its Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester offices. The total investment in Birmingham will reach £750,000 by the end of the year.

XBM has partnered with Epson since 2017.  Its focus is to sell Epson’s WorkForce Enterprise superfast eco-efficient business inkjet printer into educational establishments.

Chris Smith, sales manager for business products at Epson UK said: “We are delighted to work with XBM as they continue to grow their business.  They are well established in the print management industry and combine an ideal blend of product knowledge, market experience and sales support to ensure that our customers receive the best levels of service possible.  We look forward to supporting them as they continue to deliver Epson’s print solutions to customers in Birmingham and beyond.”

Justin English, managing director at XBM said: “Birmingham has a high concentration of businesses that could benefit from our innovative services, which makes it the perfect location for our next phase of expansion.  We are looking forward to talking to new and existing customers about Epson’s range of business inkjet printers and demonstrating their environmental advantages by providing a low power solution, with fewer supplies, while delivering remarkably fast print speeds at high quality.”

Founded in 2008, XBM is one of the fastest growing and most competitive providers of specialist office and production print equipment in the UK. The business has been growing at 20 percent a year and has a reported annual turnover of £2.5m.

 

 

 

Epson abandons expensive printer ink rip-off model

Posted on August 5, 2015 by - News

history-of-print-16th-century-printing-companyAfter decades of flogging cheap printers that have expensive ink cartridges, Epson is coming up with a different business model.

From September the outfit will offer a new line of consumer printers in the US, each with enough ink to print at least 4,000 documents. When the well finally runs dry, customers can fill it with a bottle.

John Lang, Epson’s chief executive officer for North America, said the move is good news for the consumer.

“That anxiety and that fear of running out of ink—it’s amazing to me that that was so prevalent.”

Epson’s home and small business models come with enough ink to rip off only 220 or so documents. What’s more, they don’t play nice with third party cartridges, and the whole range of colours needs replacing when one runs dry.

The strategy of having a low initial price for the unit does a nice job of hooking consumers and the model provides a consistent and predictable stream of profit. The only real problem is that customers hate it with a passion normally only reserved for serial killers of children.

For years, Epson grappled with a number of large class actions from customers who noticed their cartridges still had ink in them when the printer demanded they be replaced. Epson argued that the reserve was needed to make a smooth transition, but in 2006 it settled the grievances, awarding customers a $45 credit per printer.

Now Epson plans to make its money on the front end. The cheapest of its five new printers starts at about $379, compared with the $60 required to get Epson’s current no frills model. And the company’s hoping to benefit from being the first mover on this front.

Lang thinks that in a few years, one quarter of printer revenue will be flowing into giant inkwell models, although it will continue to offer machines that take cartridges as well.

Lang, the Epson chief, says the company didn’t offer inkwell units sooner because it was afraid people would balk at the higher initial price. But actually Epson has been flogging similar versions for years in Asia and South America, territories where ink pirates are particularly aggressive.

Peripherals continue to grow

Posted on February 20, 2014 by - News

shut-up-and-take-my-moneyThere’s still room for hard copy in the human universe and the worldwide market for peripherals continued to recover in the fourth quarter of 2013.

That’s according to IDC, which said 31.7 million units shipped in Q4 2013, up two percent from the same period in 2012.

Laser devices grew 4.5 percent year on year, and three of the top five vendors created market buzz.

HP, said IDC, increased its channel support and introduced the HP Rebate programme.  Brother introduced several products and  both companies showed “solid” year on year growth.

By sector, inkjet devices remains the top tech with over 19.6 million units amounting to 62 percent of the overall shre.  Inkjet shipments fell, however, by 1.1 percent year on year for Q4 2013.

Laser shipments saw the third consecutive quarter of growth.  Monochrome peripherals represent 82.3 percent of the laser market.

But colour laser printers grew 8.4 percent amounting to over 1.9 million units in Q4 2013.

The top five vendors are HP, Canon, Epson, Brother and Samsung with market shares of 39.8 percent, 20.6 percent, 15.4 percent, 7.5 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively.

Business to go for smart specs

Posted on December 17, 2013 by - News, Products

spyspexA company claims that enterprises will adopt smart glasses faster than your average geek.

APX Labs, which makes Skylight software, claims that Google, Epson and others are making devices which in conjunction with apps will be adopted by large corporations.

Skylight, it claims, will let workers share their view with remote colleagues, continuously monitor important information, control devices, sensors and equipments remotely and find and track objects and people.

Vertical sectors adopting smart glasses are likely to include nurses, doctors, fieldservice technicians, warehouse workers, and factory workers.

Skylight is already being used in multiple large businesses in a beta programme while the software officially launches next January.

Ed English, product manager at APX Labs, gives a little demo in a video here. He isn’t wearing smart glasses.

Big printers down, document scanners up

Posted on December 9, 2013 by - News

HPAn IDC report said that the Western Europe  large format printer market fell in the the third quarter of 2013 by 2.9 percent. Meanwhile it also reported that the document scanner market was up by more than 30 percent.

The top three vendors in the large format printer market are HP, Canon and Epson – together they accounted for 89.3 percent of shipments – they were close to 15,500 units in Q3.  LED tech fell by over 13 percent, but UV inkjet printers grew by more than 30 percent year on year.  The technical segment accounts for a 60 percent share of the application type while the graphics segment fell from 41.5 percent in share from Q3 2012 to 39.7 percent in Q3 2013.

For document scanners, the top five vendors in Western Europe were Brother, Canon, Epson, Fujitsu and HP – making of 83.9 percent of shipments, which numbered around 83,000 during the quarter.

Distributed document scanners is larger of two main segments with 97 percent share, but production document scanners increased by 8.7 percent in Q3, compared to the same quarter this time last year.