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Seiko Epson Corporation is banking on innovations such as wearable projectors and ‘green’ printers that will impact Indian consumers directly. The company is working on a technology to develop thinner, cheaper and high quality flat panels.
The Japanese maker of projectors and printers, which has been operating in the country for the last two decades, has been focusing on institutional sales and business products so far.
However, the $10.5-billion company plans to increase the share of consumer products aggressively and double its India business to Rs 1,200 crore by 2014, according to Seiko Epson’s Global President, Minoru Usui.
“We have been growing at about 18-20 per cent in the last three years in India and it still contributes a little over one per cent to our global turnover. However, in the next five years, we hope it to become our top ten markets. We will also focus more on consumer products in the coming years through innovations,” Usui said during his maiden visit to the country.
At present, about 55 per cent of the total revenue comes from business products such as devices, projectors, dot matrix printers and laser printers. The rest comes from consumer products such as inkjet printers, large format printers, consumables and scanners. The ratio of business to consumer products has changed considerably from 70:30 in the last five years.
Tie-up with retailers
Usui further said Epson will tie-up with retailers such as Croma, Reliance Digital and Staples for its wearable projectors and other consumer products. The company will also launch full 3-D, HD-ready projectors in the coming months and expand the portfolio of consumer products. The company also expects a good demand from the health, education and retail sector in the country.
With regard to investments, Usui said, “we invest about six per cent of our annual turnover back into developing new technologies and products. In the last three years, we have more than doubled our line-up of inkjet printers, particularly in response to the needs and requests of customers in the BRIC countries.”
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