With low cost inkjets and even personal lasers making their way into homes and small offices, printers have become must-have peripherals for all computer users. Almost three quarters of the respondents said that they purchased printers for their own use, rather than for general household purposes. A majority of the respondents also said that they were sole decision makers. Over 50 per cent of the respondents have owned and used printers for more than a year.
When it comes to printers, users believe that credibility (at 56 per cent) plays an overwhelming role in determining trust in brands. Both loyalty and awareness were accorded low importance, while satisfaction (15 per cent) and ownership (12 per cent) found a place in the trust stakes. In the printer category, HP was the leader followed by Canon and Epson. One surprise was Wipro, at fourth place, which garnered endorsements from a number of users. TVSE managed to outdo Lexmark and Brother. Overall, users rated brands in this category on a scale of fair to excellent on the trustworthiness scale.
HP garnered the highest scores on the index of awareness, followed closely by Canon. Trailing by a considerable margin were the next two brands Epson and Samsung. Most other brands registered very low scores on the index of awareness. HP ranked highest on top of mind recall, followed by Canon. Even though Samsung has high overall awareness, it does not seem to be on top of consumers’ minds when compared to Epson. There was a close relationship between top-of-mind awareness, and ownership of the brand. Even though Epson and TVSE were not top-of-mind for many users, owners of these brands were well aware of the other brands in the market.
On the credibility index, HP was ranked higher than all other brands. Samsung and TVSE were rated about equal, as were Wipro and Epson. HP was seen as the principal technology leader in the printer space, while Canon and Epson were viewed to as delivering levels of service that are comparable to HP. While customers seem to trust Wipro as a brand, they do not perceive it as providing innovative features, or high levels of usability. TVSE evoked a split response from users. While the brand was perceived to deliver high quality, durability and responsiveness to customer needs, it was also panned for its inability to deliver innovative features, ease of use, and good design.
On the satisfaction front HP was out in front, with Canon and Epson scoring about the same on the satisfaction index. On most aspects of satisfaction, Epson and Canon are ranked equally — and the perceptions about the brands are similar to HP. Overall satisfaction with Xerox is high, though users seemed to be less aware about the product range and variety of models. Users also perceived that Xerox did not deliver good value for money. Samsung, Brother and Lexmark were all rated lower than the other brands in user satisfaction.
In terms of loyalty, Epson was ranked behind HP on all aspects, but the brand led Canon and Wipro. HP users appear to be very loyal to the brand, and are highly inclined to talk positively about it to others, continue using its products, and recommend it to others. Epson and Canon users also indicated that they would talk positively about the brands, but their repurchase intentions are lower than that for HP.
On the index of ownership Brother did extremely well, and was followed by Lexmark and Xerox. In terms of ownership cost, HP was seen to be the most expensive, with users paying on an average Rs. 9,000 for a printer — while Epson was the most economical at about Rs. 5,000. Both Samsung and Epson were viewed as offering relatively long warranty periods, which would tend to instil additional confidence amongst users. Since many users have not owned their printers for a long time, they were unable to comment on service related aspects.