Canon India, during a recent announcement, shared its plans of transforming its business model in the year 2017. As of now, Canon India distributes its presses and services through direct sales. However, this will change from the first quarter of 2017, when the company will also be availing a sales channel distribution model along with its direct selling structure.
Speaking to Indian Printer & Publisher, Puneet Datta, director – professional printing products division, Canon India said, “We are in the process of selecting sales channel partners at the moment. We intend to start working with them in the first part of next year between January and March 2017. Our aim is to start working with a small group of people—not more than 5 to 10 partners initially who understand our business and be willing to work as hard as us.”
Competition is usually at its fiercest at the low end of the print spectrum where there is the maximum number of players involved. This is no different in case of digital printing in India, according to Datta. “Earlier, digital printing in India was growing at 20–25%—a figure that has tapered off to the current 10–12% owing to stiff competition. This does not help printers to grow in the long term and neither does it prove beneficial for the industry. At Canon, we have a responsibility to first help these printers experience Canon, which may in turn help them move up in the value chain and become more profitable and value oriented.”
Datta continues, “When we met printers in this segment to understand their concerns, we figured out that Canon products were too good for them to afford, thus pushing printers to opt for other products from the competition. We realized the need to reach out to these printers and form a sound base on street. We are not abandoning our direct sales approach but with the proper help of sales channel partners, we should be in a position to represent ourselves to all these printers whom we could not before.”
By the second quarter of 2017, Canon India intends to bring out faster presses with added features, which is part of its multi-pronged approach to make it a more valueoriented proposition to these printers. Also, the company is in talks with a few vendors in developing a basic workflow for these printers, which would be simple to use and devoid of complexities.
Canon India intends to continue with its direct service approach at the moment though. “Our customers value our service and commitment. That will not change. Our intention is to be more visible and dynamic in these segments and provide more value to our customers. We gain by making our customers profitable,” Datta concludes.
