Common Consumer Concerns On Printer Ink Cartridges Answered!

With all the bad years the printing ink industry has had in the past decade, 2011 was a breath of fresh air. While industrial printing companies did not do so well, those focusing on UV inks, packaging, and digital markets did pretty good. Again, it was a really great year for the industry as a whole. Nonetheless, the same old concerns resurfaced a number of times throughout the year. If you ever care to listen to brand ink companies, you are probably aware that raw materials pricing continues to be a major concern. After all, as costs increase, profit margins shrink. While inkjet ink cartridge prices remained fairly steady for the average consumer, the moderate increases in sales throughout the year were largely consumed by the higher costs of production.
While there is nothing a company can do about the cost of raw materials, there are actually quite a few things that can be done to limit the effect of raw materials costs on profit margins. Generic ink companies have known how to break free from the raw materials pricing cycle for a long time now. They make use of innovative manufacturing technologies to keep the cost per unit to an absolute minimum.
So, why do not brand name manufacturers do as their generic counterparts do? It takes a ton of time and money. Brand ink companies have been doing business for nearly a century now. Why fix something that really is not broken? Ultimately, it is just not worth the effort to make the adjustments. The solution is not to make manufacturing processes more efficient. These companies need to simply find a way to be more appealing to the average consumer.
Seeing the success that Cannon and Brother have enjoyed with their highly efficient multi-function printers, ink giant Lexmark is considering developing an innovative printing technology that could significantly reduce the cost per page for color printing, which would extend the life of their brand name cartridges. Many major ink companies have gone on record saying that this is a great way to deal with the growing influence of generic inkjet ink cartridge sales. Still, there does not seem to be any hurry. After all, generic ink sales make up very little of the total market share of inkjet cartridges.
At present, brand name ink companies control the vast majority of the market share of all inkjet ink cartridge sold throughout the world and, through the use of major campaigns, they have been successful a number of times in reclaiming a portion of the lost market share in the past. I think that is bad news. Without a little healthy competition, companies start to get too big for their britches. If brand companies are successful in their push to eliminate non-brand alternative, the public may soon face a steep hike in ink cartridge prices or a decline in quality. Thankfully, 2012 looks like it is going to be a great year for generic.