Moderator :
   Good Morning! Welcome to ChannelChat with Alok Bharadwaj, Director & GM, Canon India.

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Good Morning Everybody

  bharat jethani, bell computronics, thane :
 Q: dear sir, canon printers are very good in quality but if u see we are selling at a premium price so why arent we bundling the printers with the usb cables which actually defines the speed of the printer?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Bharat, Thane: USB cables are of different makes & varieties and many times their quality impacts the performance of our printers. We, therefore leave it to teh customer to choose their own cables. As regards price difference, we will have to create a justifiable differentiation on our brand & produ

  K.Venkatachalam, Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, Bangalore :
 Q: For the leading brand of Inkjet and laserjet printers we are used to buying, we have found consumable cost to be extremely high. With your technology and competing strength, why Canon should not fight for Market share for the benefit of users and your com

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Venkat Bagalore: Thanks for your comments. We are indeed gearing up with marketing communications & programs to convince our customers on the benefits of far more affordable consumable pricing & economic running. Our mkt shares have shown an upward trend. We were 3% in 2001.....

Alok Bharadwaj :
  ...... and now have climbed to 20% in Inkjet as per IDC report of Aug 2003. On Lasers too, we are putting our act together in all the relevent areas of business aspects like Organisation, Channels, Advertising & service.

  Manpreet Singh, N. M Enterprises, Gorakhpur :
 Q: Canon Service is very poor in gorakhpur. And we are losing our customers because of that. With regards to Onsite warranty  Laser printers There is no one to co-ordinate for onsite warranty. Although the canon printer quality is good because of the service problem in U P, The customers have switched over to HP & Epson printers. So how can you work on this?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Manpreet, Gorakpur: There are two ways we are differentaiting our offerings on laser printers, 1. Product technology & performance 2. Onsite warranty. But the channel network is in the state of infancy. We cannot offer onsite everywhere. We can do it where our ASCs(service centres) are located......

Alok Bharadwaj :
  ..... have 123 ASCs in the country. Naturally we began with A & B cities. Gorakpur falls under C category and we will take just few more months to get there. remember Rome was not built over a day. Soon you will get a delight as we reach Gorakhpur.

  HARDIK J OSHI, ELECON INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY LTD, ANAND :
 Q: Good Morning, Do u accept that canon,hp & EPSON are in race of price only? Not a single company is intrested in quality inkjet printers making.What do you have to say to this?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Hardik, Anand: Well, majority of your fraternity (channels) will admit two things for Canon. 1. quality is superb and much better then competition. Our failure rates endorse that. and 2. The price is not lowest. In fact HP & Epson are at 10% below our prices.

  T.R.Vaidyanathan, Change Technologies, Chennai :
 Q: our customers preference is to have service support pack directly from canon after the warranty period,this is done in hp,is there any possibility of canon also offering this to customers

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Vaidya, Chennai:Currently we are establishing channel & ASC)service) network and have plan for this value add in 2004 to support customers as well as channel partners. We will begin with Laser & AIOs first . then Inkjet printers.

  kailash baheti, power technics, pune :
 Q: all along canon been an direct selling company for its copier range and high end all in one products, how about canons strategy on adding a reseller tier/partner in the sale process where in the reseller/dealer would be responsible for the account.

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Kailash Pune; Canon started with the business model of B2B for business machines. We now gradually and infact now rapidly transitioning to channel model. All lowe end Laser MFDs and 12 cpm copiers are sold thru dealers only. Entire IT periferals & Digicam biz is thru channels

  sunil jhawar, s k enterprises, kolkata :
 Q: your ad of 48 paise print cost (S200) is a totally misleading, unethical, false statement. I had a very disappointing experiance. Can you prove me wrong?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Sunil, Kolkata: Companies like Canon will never mislead. There could be a different experinece of yours and separately we will convince you. Write to rajeev.singh@canon.co.in Calculation: Rs 395 cartridge for black for 820 pages on super economy mode @1500 ch per page. We have done it. Will show you

  Anil Yaduvanshi, NEcX, Visakhapatnam :
 Q: Is canongoingto slash the prices for it entire range of products...as the competition has grown.

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Anil, Vizag: Slicing prices does not get you market shares on a sustainable basis. It ensures that overall price levels for teh category goes low eroding value and surplus that companies need to develop & build the market. We grew to 20% market share from 3% . We are at 10% premium today.

  Prashant, Comprint Computers, Raipur :
 Q: Normally colour cartridges costs around 900  1000 Rs, for refilling, which is same for HP as well as Canon so to convince the customer to buy Canon cartridges rather than buying HP cartridges. Can you provide us a viable solution for this? So that I can convince the customer to buy Canon product.There is only one service centre available in Raipur. So it takes a lot of time for replacement or repair. So can Canon provide us the solution by opening other service centre in Raipur?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Prashant, Colour cartridge for Canon is Rs 795 for 100SP printer & Rs 745 for S 200Sp printer. Second service centre can be looked at on the basis of sales. We will consider your suggestion

  ramesh, commercial controls, hyderabad :
 Q: why is that canon wants to stick up with obsolete dist in supplies buss, It should endeavour to grow like hp epson.. also the stocking level of supplies is very poor. What will you do about this?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Ramesh, Hyd: One fundamental philosophy of Canon is profits for partners. Unless our consumables partner touches a level of Rs 10 lacs a month we do not look at second one. Your concern will be addressed by asking him to stock more.

  Manish Shah, Shroff I. T. Service (P) Ltd, Ankleshwar :
 Q: How will canon participate with associations to organise Exhibitions

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Manish: We have Canon face in every state. There are 25 Biz maangers in 25 states. they work with CPPs & CEPs (canon empowered partners) and organise exhibition participations. Pl contact local city manager.

  Vinod Ratni, Startart Technologies, Ankleshwar :
 Q: What are the special features available in Canon digital still cameras? What are the models available?How is the Company planning to market dsc in India?What are the current models of dsc available in India & Who are the distributors?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Vinod: It is a long answer, we will email to you. Pl contact shyam@canon.co.in for details. we have state distributors. In Gujarat, there is Apna studio at Ahmedabad. 6 modelsof DSC available.

  William, Pinnacle System, Delhi :
 Q: Good morning Mr Bharadwaj, I feel no one company is defferent from the other in India, to me Canon India is in the same fray. Please comment.

Alok Bharadwaj :
  William, delhi: All companies world over are same. they work to grow business, compete like crazy, set up organisations, channels, service etc and build brand. In doing this, there is constant improvement reqd. We may be weak in some area but progressing. We listen to customers.

  Manoranjan Mahapatro, Orisoft Computer, Berhampur :
 Q: Canon cartridges are very small they can print only 60-65 pages. So is there any special mechanism available to improve cartridge printing capacity or is there any other cartridge available?What kind of Canon Plotters are available. Or we have to use A1 size inkject printer as a plotter?I want the complete details about the canon laser printers, the new models available in Laser series & also I am interested in canon dealership ? So can you guide me regarding this?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Manoranjan: We welcome you to join us. Write to siddarth@canon.co.in We have 3 models of lasers. launching colour soon. cartridges are small but running cost is low. This can be verified anywhere. For 2100SP/100Sp, you can use BC20, a jumbo catridge which will give 7200 pages on super economy mode

  William, Pinnacle System, Delhi :
 Q: Dear Mr Bharadwaj, I had oppertunity of meeting most of your ASCs(Authorised Service Centers) and all of them are not happy with Canon Indias policy and strategy. Everyone of them are not making money. They feel they have been cheated by the Canon India represenattives. PLs comment.

Alok Bharadwaj :
  William: welcome back: In business, relationships survive only when it is profitable for both partners. ASCs will leave us anyday when the business is not working. However thanks for yoru feedback. We will encourage all to give their feedback.

  Deep Geogade, E  World Computers, Chandrapur :
 Q: Canon is not concentrating properly in the small cities like Chandrapur, Due to Which the resellers are not been able to promote the products properly, Therefore we dont deal much in canon. can u help us?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Deep: On the contrary, our strength is in small cities. We have as high mkt shares as 40% in Kanpur. Places like Trivandrum, Indore, Bhopal, Guwahati, Amritsar, Nashik, and even Agra, Bhatinda, Guntur, Erode etc are strong for us. We still have to go to Chandrapur. we soon will.

  Ashwin Kukreja, Real Time Computers, mumbai :
 Q: sir what are your plans for this festive season

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Ashwin: For our partners, we are organising Canon leadership summit in Goa ina 7 star property so that they can relax and enjoy festive times. For resellers, we are offering a scheme Canon Utsav. We are lloking at customer scheme for cosnumers.

  Manoj, Jalan Computers, Sikar :
 Q: The cartridges available for inkjet printers range from 8ml to 10ml. earlier we had the BC20 cartridges which are still available but in the new model of printers this cartridges are not feasible. Due to this the cost per print has increased and sales have decreased.The printing quality of speed of the Canon printers is very inferior, in comparison of HP printers? Why?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  manoj Sikar, The proof of the pudding is in eating. Can we invite you to Jaipur at our CPP place Surtaru fusion where we would like to test all printers with cartridges. You are right, in current models ,there is no BC 20 option but there is a super economy mode printing. The tanks are cheaper.

  Vishal Gaurav Singh, Millennium IT services, Jamshedpur :
 Q: we face poor after sales service in Jamshedpur, moreover the consumables price is not fixed and even the availability is very poor. There were talks about setting up the service center with concerned Canon authorities in Jamshedpur. But yet there is no response. Would it be possible for Canon to have a training program for hardware engineers in Jamshedpur for technical knowlegde of Canon products?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Vishal, We conduct training programs for our Auth service points and our partners. We are in the process of setting up a good service point. We take neutral organisations not sales dealers for this. Write to sushil@canon.co.in

  Yogesh Mehta, Digital Computer, Jamnagar :
 Q: Is warranty available for a laser printer polymaster print. Post script fonts like Shri Lipi, Tera in gujarati languages are not compatible with canon printers, What should be done in this case?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Warranty is not valid for polymaster. This media is not even recommended on regular business printers.I know many people use laser printers like that. We have tested with ShriLipi. It works.

  BalaChandra Menon, Om computers, Cochin :
 Q: Why is Canon concentrating more on its consumables rather than improving on its quality printers?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  bala, Comapnies need focus on both. One is a source of their income & bottom line and the other is the only way to build strong brand. Canon spends 10% of revenue on R&D and improving quality.

Alok Bharadwaj :
  bala, Comapnies need focus on both. One is a source of their income & bottom line and the other is the only way to build strong brand. Canon spends 10% of revenue on R&D and improving quality.

Moderator :
   We have another 5 minutes to go before the Chat concludes

  R.Kant, Kant Enterprises, Nasik :
 Q: Dear Alokji, Canon has become very aggressive in India, we have found Canons distribution policy very supportive, what about Digital cameras, will Canon be equally aggressive in Digital cameras business?

Alok Bharadwaj :
  R kant, nashik, Thanks for your comments. In digicams, we are setting up foundation blocks and you will see us equally aggressive. Digicam market is growing @70% and Canon has emerged No 1 worldwide. We are determined to make that success in India. After all Canon is complete digital imaging co.

  Ashwin Kukreja, Real Time Computers, mumbai :
 Q: The scanner movement has reduced Will it continue to be be like that or is it just a temporary phase. Is it becoz of AIO and digi cams?

  Lalit Agrawal, Innovative Computer, Bilaspur :
 Q: What steps canon have been taking to reach the customers as their competitors have already captured the market.

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Aswin: In developed markets scanner industry is shrinking. Digicams were teh cause of it. In India, we do not foresee any reduction in the market size but the growth that we say in last two quarters may slow down. AIOs will cause it

Alok Bharadwaj :
  FOUR STEPs: Building a dedicated organisation 2. Building strong & focussed channel partners. 3, Building a strong brand 4. offering large range across 9 product categories from Copiers, faxes, projectors, digicams, inkjet, scanners, laser printers, All in ones to graphic printers etc.

Moderator :
   Thank you Alok Bharadwaj for joining us on the chat. We also thank all the participants. There are many pending questions which will be forwarded to Mr Bharadwaj. Do join us for the next live chat on 8th October at 11:00 am, on ChannelChat!

Alok Bharadwaj :
  Thanks to all the channel partners and IT nation for making this possible. I am overwhelmed to observe such a massive interest in canon. The feedback is always welcome as we improve with your ideas. Good bye and have a great festive time.