Epson returns to retail

Yesterday, Epson announced a partnership with Incredible Connection that will make its business and consumer products available nationwide.

As part of Epson South Africa’s retail-focussed strategy for 2012, the company has announced a partnership with leading local technology retailer Incredible Connection in a strategic agreement that will see Epson’s business and consumer inkjet printers available in stores nationwide from the 26th April 2012. The agreement will also mark Incredible Connection as Epson’s principal mass retail partner in South Africa.

‚Epson has recently expanded its range of consumer and business printers, which have seen impressive market share gains throughout Europe. We believe it is time to implement the same strategy locally, and make our wide range of Epson products more accessible to South African consumers,‚ says Kelvin Reynolds, general manager for Epson South Africa.

‚As South Africa’s leading technology retailer, Incredible Connection serves a significant market share in the printer retail category in our country. For Epson to quickly gain acceptance and market share, the synergy with Incredible Connection makes perfect sense, taking into account our growing national foot print of 62 stores. Epson’s exciting product offering is also very much aligned with Incredible Connection’s customer profile,‚ says Stefan Marnewick, acting CEO of Incredible Connection.

The first Epson products to be available in store will be a range of Epson’s compact colour printers, small and home office all-in-one printers and multifunctional business inkjet printers. A full range of consumables and media for these devices will also be available in store. A selection of Epson’s home cinema and business projectors will be made available in due course, as will Epson’s entry level business laser printers.

‚One of the products that we are particularly excited to introduce to Incredible Connection customers is the Epson WorkForce Pro printer. This printer is specifically designed to offer cost and energy efficiency, high quality output and durability to enterprise workgroups as well as small and medium-sized businesses,‚ says Reynolds. ‚It offers a genuine alternative to a laser printer, and provides a cost saving of up to 50% per page and a massive 80 percent reduction[2] in energy consumption compared to competitive lasers.‚

‚We have seen our customers becoming more and more aware of the environmental impact of their technology usage. Printing costs are also a big consideration in customer spending and consumption patterns. We believe the Epson printer range will address both these concerns with their lower energy consumption and cost reduction when compared to other alternatives,‚ adds Marnewick.

In addition, Epson will be sharing the benefits of its global sponsorship of British football team Manchester United with Incredible Connection customers through a series of competitions that will see winners jetting off to the UK with a partner to attend a Manchester United football match at the revered Old Trafford football ground.

‚Epson’s sponsorship of this internationally successful team allows us the opportunity to reward Incredible Connection customers for their support of Epson,‚ Reynolds says. ‚Any customer purchasing an Epson product, whether it’s a printer, projector, or ink or toner cartridge, is eligible to enter the competitions which we’ll be running over the course of the year.‚

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