A4 Page Volumes

GIntelMaven

With new workgroup class A4 MFPs emerging from all of the major copier vendors (as well as traditional printer players) I was wondering what everyone's thoughts are on A4s.

Are people commonly seeing these as replacements for A3s?

Have you identified a monthly page volume that makes A4s a better decision than A3s if page size is not an issue for a given office?

What is the average monthly page volume that you are seeing though A4 MFPs?

Does it appear that this number is on the rise during the last few years and where do you think it will be in the next two to three years?

I appreciate the insight as usual.

8/31/105:19 PM

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Art Post (Guest)

quote:
Are people commonly seeing these as replacements for A3s? I've seen a few in commercial accounts, more in government lately

Have you identified a monthly page volume that makes A4s a better decision than A3s if page size is not an issue for a given office? 10K and under A4, over A3

What is the average monthly page volume that you are seeing though A4 MFPs? 3-7K

Does it appear that this number is on the rise during the last few years and where do you think it will be in the next two to three years?

Not much here in Jersey, not many dealers left, however with direct now getting into A4, I'm sure we'll see many more. I'm a little concerned that there's been NO A4 Mono except for Sammy, there is a need but Direct seems to be only launching color A4.

8/31/1010:07 PM

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bestashuMember

There is no specific volume which will become infliction point of cannabalisation...it we be based on the Vendors' being able to educate the customers. Most(over95%) of the current print/copy volumes is only A4, hence there is a strong point in A4 eating into A3 market. It is propelled by serious ATL work done by companies like HP. The only hindrance will come due to the higher running cost of the A4 devices. On the opposite side of this A3 vendors have the customers with actualy very print/copy usage-sold to them on the basis of lower running cost. Hence there will be a tough resisitance by the A3 vendors-but ultimately markets will prevail and markets ought to become more of A4 products eating out A3 products in a big manner-its only a matter of time!!!

9/1/1012:43 AM

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SalesServiceGuyMaven VIP

In my marketplace, the used A3 market (especially Colour)is still able to displace new A4 products at the same price.

Colour quality and reliability has improved a lot over the last few years, so even a one generation old colour copier is very much in demand.

The marketplace has a strong demand for colour that for me now exceeds black.

Of course, this is not great new for new A3 sales. Customers who have an A3, generally want to stick with an A3 replacement copier.

A4 products are sold with a Printer like mentality which starts a downward spiral of profit margins and commissions.

9/1/108:56 AM

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GIntelMaven

Thanks guys,

Any thoughts on Page Volumes?

9/1/103:36 PM

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txeagle24Maven

One of my clients is a car dealership, and they recently replaced (2) Ricoh MP2510's & (2) Ricoh MP3010's with (4) Lexmark XS658dfe's.

The average monthly volume on each of these is around 7,500, so considering that the Lexmarks are significantly more productive and haven't had any service calls in the first quarter, reliability doesn't appear to be an issue.

As a point of reference, I have a customer that has a Lexmark XS463de (40ppm desktop mfp) that runs almost 11,000 per month and averages about 1 call per quarter.

9/1/104:29 PM

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WFraserJunior P4P'er

We are currently seeing a correction in the market. What we sold for $15,000 three years ago we are now selling systems of equivalent value for less than a third. The market is largely oblivious to the selling features that used to give the higher priced systems their value. They didn't need the features to begin with.

We are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.....

New channels of distribution for enterprise print delivery, channels that tend to work off less robust margins than copier dealerships do, are popping up. The net result is not only an erosion of sales, but an erosion of margin.

9/1/105:50 PM

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M138Senior P4P'er

I'm looking at a break point of around 10k/month, at that point, at least at my dealership, a3 is a lower tco. They [the samsung rep]say when you look at total volumes, 11x17 only accounts for like 3% of the global print volume. What I've seen is that its not accurate to extrapolate that only 3% of customers need it, it means that there is a wider group of customers that use it outside AEC, but they do a tiny amount of it. Even so, once you've got a feature that is used, even marginally, buyers are remiss to see it go away. Maybe thats part of the strategy with PPDM and sharpdesk - even if its only used by a small margin of people, the buyers would be less likely to move to a4 - assuming that most a4 products aren't going to be bundled with any software.

9/1/107:09 PM

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Art Post (Guest)

quote:
Originally posted by M138:
I'm looking at a break point of around 10k/month, at that point, at least at my dealership, a3 is a lower tco. They [the samsung rep]say when you look at total volumes, 11x17 only accounts for like 3% of the global print volume. What I've seen is that its not accurate to extrapolate that only 3% of customers need it, it means that there is a wider group of customers that use it outside AEC, but they do a tiny amount of it. Even so, once you've got a feature that is used, even marginally, buyers are remiss to see it go away. Maybe thats part of the strategy with PPDM and sharpdesk - even if its only used by a small margin of people, the buyers would be less likely to move to a4 - assuming that most a4 products aren't going to be bundled with any software.

The most important question to ask is "how much do you copy 11x17"? If the answer is none, then the next question is "how often do you print 11x17"? When the answer is quite often, well A3 is then a no brainer, however if the answer is rarely, then I'll bundle an 11x17 laser or ink printer. Based on under 10K per month, A4 will save the customer on the TCO over the term of a 5 year lease.

9/1/1011:07 PM

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