InfoTrends Addresses the Impact of China and Third-party Supplies on Ink and Toner E-Commerce

Originally published by Cision

InfoTrends Addresses the Impact of China and Third-party Supplies on Ink and Toner E-Commerce

InfoTrends (a division of Keypoint Intelligence) is pleased to announce the completion of a new study entitled Sizing Ink & Toner E-Commerce: Mapping the Impact of China and Third-party Supplies. This study helps ink and toner OEMS better understand the threats that the e-commerce marketplace landscape represents. This study is broken out into U.S. and Western European components.

This study aims to:

• Identify the impact of e-commerce marketplaces
• Size the annual units and revenue (at final sale) of inkjet and toner cartridges by Internet-based retailers sourced from China
• Profile the purchase process, product, and overall experience from across-section of Internet-based retailers
• Profile the customers of inkjet and toner cartridges from Internet-based retailers and understand their characteristics, behavior, and experiences
• Distill multiple data sources to characterize the impact of 3rd party supplies on the Internet
• Provide recommendations on product and marketing strategies for OEMS

“From this study, it is apparent that E-commerce has become a dominant channel for sourcing ink and toner cartridges among consumers and SMB’s up to 99 employees,” stated John Shane, Director of Keypoint Intelligence – InfoTrends’ Communication Supplies Consulting Service. “This study has found that 3rd party cartridges represent about half of cartridges sold on independent e-commerce sites.”

While the legal route might be the most potent tool that OEMs have in their limited ability to slow the spread of 3rd party cartridges on the internet, InfoTrends also recommends that OEMS continue to pursue various auto-resupply and contract programs of interest to consumer and SMB customers. Attractive pricing and convenience are key to ensure that this approach is successful.