Epson sees local sales rising to P1.15B this year

Despite the economic slump, leading computer printer company Epson Philippines Corp. still projects local sales this year to grow by at least 10 to 15 percent to P1.15 billion.

In an interview, Epson Phils. president Hiroaki Ito said that bulk of the growth will come from the computer ink jet printer business which received a big boost with the introduction of the Stylus C20 model in June of this year.

While the company projects growth in sales this year, this is small compared to the original 30 to 40 percent growth projection, which had to be revised due to factors like the continuing Asian crisis and the recent terrorist attacks on the United States.

In terms of overall industry sales of computer printers, Ito projects that total market sales will be the same as last year or even lower.

From P300 million when it started in 1998, Epson’s sales in the Philippines grew to P700 million in 1999 and P1 billion last year. "In fact, the Philippine company has the distinction of garnering the biggest sales in Southeast Asia," Ito said.

The printer business still accounts for the bulk, or 95 percent of total sales, while the rest is distributed among other products – digital cameras, projectors, scanners.

Ito reported that from January to September this year, sales grew by around 15 percent from last year. "It could have grown two or three times if not for the economic crisis," he said.

Epson still has the biggest share or around 95 percent of the Philipine market for dot matrix printers. In the case of ink jet printers, Hewlett Packard still leads with a 50 percent market share while Epson has 25 percent.

In terms of overall computer printer sales (dot matrix, ink jet, and laser printers), HP has a 50 percent share of the market while Epson has 40 percent and still growing.

Last year, the company sold around 120,000 units of printers and this volume is expected to grow by 10 to 15 percent this year.

According to Ito, Epson, which was earlier known for its dot matrix printers, is actively marketing its ink jet printers both for the consumer and business markets.

At present, around 60 to 70 percent of ink jet printer sales of Epson goes to the household or consumer market. "We are now targeting the business sector," he said.

But he emphasized that while the market for dot matrix is no longer improving, Epson will continue to be in that market. "In the Philippines, our sales of dot matrix printers was almost the same during this year compared to last year. It could have improved if not for the government budget cut," Ito printed out.– Mary Ann Reyes