Industry Leaders Panel Discussion

Moderated by: Charles Brewer, Managing Editor, The Hard Copy Supplies Journal

Panelists include Brad Roderick, Executive Vice President, InkCycle; Joy James, Senior Vice President, Cartridge World; WooJin Kim, President, Charm Regent; John Weatherup, Sourcing Manager, Tech Ed Networks

Heres a small sample (and not a complete transcript) of panel Questions and Answers. To distinguish between respondents the answers are coded without names, due to the unedited nature of any blog post:

1) Are tough economic times a positive for third-party supplies players? (respondent A) US is tougher than the rest of the world. Print volumes are down a bit though usage of third-party supplies might be up proportionately. Price increases are on their way. (respondent B) Aftermarket is recession proof, but overall printing is down 10%-20%. Three reasons 1) end users are cutting back on discretionary printing, 2) SOHO printing fewer emails for cost reasons, and 3) certain industries, e.g. real estate, finance, are down and print volumes go with that. Respondent Bs organization is generally not seeing the declines. (respondent C) A client (law firm) reports overall printing reductions of 30%-35%. Awareness of lower cost and environmental issues is good for the aftermarket industry.

2) Are aftermarketers competing against OEMs or other aftermarketers? (Respondent A) Agrees that a big problem for the industry is competing amongst ourselves rather than against OEMs, in part because its easier once the customer has crossed over to using non-OEM supplies. (Respondent C) This is an old topic, ten or fifteen years at least. All competing for 25% of the market.

Trying to capture the full range of discussion is impossible here, and actually provides a great incentive for readers to attend the next Lyra seminar!

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