Vitesh K Sharma, Country Category Manager – LaserJet Toner Supplies, HP – IPG, talked to Pupul Dutta about the vendor’s ongoing campaign against counterfeit consumables
What are the problems that you face in the Indian consumable market?
The consumables market in India is infested with numerous challenges like threats from manufacturers of counterfeit, refilled and remanufactured cartridges. Counterfeiting is packaging and selling of products in a way that it confuses a customer into believing that they are buying a genuine HP product. Similarly, refilled products are packed in a way so as to confuse customers into mistaking them for genuine company products.
Counterfeiting is widely prevalent in the market as customers are attracted with the promise of a lower costs of printing. The truth, however, is starkly different as a research study commissioned by HP with 2,500 SMB customers found that high-usage SMBs actually pay up to 1.3 times more in total costs when they use a remanufactured cartridge brand as compared to an Original HP LaserJet Print Cartridge.
Another study commissioned by HP in 2010 and conducted in India and China found that refilled monochrome toner cartridges delivered inconsistent print quality, as over 60% of the refill pages inspected were of limited or no use. In addition, over 60% of all refilled cartridges experienced problems—11% had problems soon after installation, while with more than 50% of refilled cartridges tested, at least half of the pages inspected were of limited use (not suitable for distribution).
Tell us about HP’s anti-counterfeit program.
The HP Supplies Anti-Counterfeit Program (ACF) raises awareness among HP partners, customers and local authorities about when to become suspicious about the sale of counterfeit cartridges and how to report leads. In addition, the program ensures the stocks of our wholesale and commercial partners are free of counterfeits, by conducting random inspections (channel partner anti-counterfeit audits). HP is also an active member of a number of not-for-profit international brand owners’ associations supporting governments and law enforcement authorities.
How can customers identify fakes?
We alert and educate customers on how to identify counterfeit products through various means. Most new printers alert customers when a cartridge that has been previously depleted is inserted into their printer indicating that the cartridge is not an original HP supplies product and may be counterfeit. We always tell our customers to purchase products through established and reputable retail and commercial channels recommended by us to avoid being duped. Also, one must avoid purchasing products from auction sites or from vendors outside of the customer’s immediate geography.
Secondly, customers should avoid products that are advertised as ‘discontinued’ or ‘second quality’. Within India, never buy products that are advertised as ‘locally made’ HP or a ‘second quality’ HP. HP doesn’t make such products and it is also evident that a product is a fake if the price of the product is too good to be true. To ensure easy, convenient and timely availability of supplies to our customers, we have introduced HP Sure Supply service through two channels namely Dial-A-Cartridge (DAC) and Click-A-Cartridge (CAC).
HP printers usually inform customers when their ink and toner are running low and with SureSupply, an automated user-friendly tool, customers can replenish consumables. We have also introduced low cost and high yield cartridges costing Rs 449 with a yield of 600 pages, which brings the cost per page (CPP) down to as low as 75 paisa per page. For customers with high printing needs, we have also introduced high-capacity cartridges capable of printing 2,000 pages with a single cartridge, while delivering a low CPP at the same time.
What kind of technologies are you using to protect your customers?
We take a proactive approach to alerting customers on how to identify counterfeit printing supplies. We have recently announced a new mobile authentication service to help customers identify counterfeit ink and toner cartridges easily and conveniently. The HP mobile authentication tool features a QR code on both HP original ink and toner cartridge security labels. After checking for the label’s holographic properties, customers can capture the QR label with a smartphone to access the HP mobile authentication tool and validate it.
What are the challenges in educating people about using genuine cartridges and not opt for duplicate cheap products?
Considering the lower purchase price of the alternatives to original like remanufactured and refilled, people often resort to them. Also, customers often get confused between counterfeiting with legitimate refill/remanufactured products, as refilling and remanufacturing of print cartridges are considered legitimate business if the products are clearly presented as such. We are therefore, focusing to educate customers who believe they are buying original HP cartridges when they are being cheated with fake ones. Examples of legitimate refilled products are if the product clearly states ‘refill’ and does not misuse the HP logo and uses the refilling company’s name. Counterfeit cartridges illegally use HP logo, which in turn has a detrimental effect on the brand HP.
