EL NIDO Resorts, Palawan—EPSON Philippines Corp. executives expressed confidence the products the company is rolling out in the local market would receive warm reception.
According to the Japanese firm’s local executives, Epson dominated the Point-of-Sale (POS) category for seven straight years.
“We have recoded our highest share of 41 percent”, said Thea Austria, product manager for the professional Printers Group of Epson Philippines.
“A healthy pipeline of project and wide network of child partners across the verticals, we grew 57 percent in 2015 and will continue to grow,” Austria told reporters the company flew here. Epson trails HP Inc. and Canon in the top five hardcopy peripherals companies in the Asia Pacific (excluding Japan) in terms of shipment volumes, according to International Data Corp. (IDC) data.
In the first quarter of the year, Epson shipped 1.27 million units, a fraction below the 1.49 million units shipped in the same period by Canon. According to IDC, Epson posted 17.5 percent in market share during the quarter.
Epson executives credit the success of the firm’s growth to innovation.
Epson uses its core technologies to boost innovations on various product categories, including inkjet printers, projectors, POS printers, signage printers and digital textile printers.
Printing
EPSON has rolled out “labelers”, devices in the small printer category, while for large-format printers, the company said there’s one for printing signage, car wraps, tarpaulin, banners, wallpapers, standees and backlit posters.
“Digital textile printing offers unrivaled creative freedom, reduces time to create new designs that are more sustainable and environment-friendly,” said Chu Bacsal-Pajarito, product manager for commercial and industrial printers. Bacsal-Pajarito was referring to the firm’s “Dye Sublimation” printer, which allows users to print design directly to the garment.
Visual
ACCORDING to executives, Epson has an overall 55 percent share in the Philippines in the projector category.
This year the company plans to ramp up sales of its laser projector with 25,000 lumens. Executives added the 66-kilogram product targets the rental and staging businesses.
“The future of Epson projectors remains bright, as we continue to refine original microdisplay and projection technologies, and create outstanding visual experiences and a natural visual communications environment for every aspect of business and lifestyles,” said Lyn Lizarondo, product manager for visual imaging systems.
Wearables
THE company is also introducing the Moverio BT-300, a smart eyeglass featuring a silicon-based organic light-emitting diode digital display technology.
Touting it as the lightest see-through binocular smart glasses on the market, Epson said it is setting the new standard for augmented reality (AR) smart eyewear.
According to Jester Cruz, department head for product management division and product manager for Moverio, the device is best used when playing games like Pokemon Go or watching an action movie. Likewise, Cruz said the device is also useful for those who have video and photography business and uses drone.
“Instead of checking your screen and then checking the drone up there, you can see and check your drone all at the same time using the Epson Moverio,” Cruz added. “There’s no need to look up and down because you can look up checking your drone up there and seeing what the drone is taking.”
Robotics
EPSON is also rolling out its Scara robot as the firm goes into the robotics market. According to Ng Ngee Khiang, robotics division regional general manager for Epson Southeast Asia, robotics “is already part and parcel of how Epson operates and manufactures.”
Ngee Khiang added the company plans to expand applications that robots support.
“Epson intends to lower the barriers to automation, expand the market and build a competitive advantage,” Ngee Khiang said. “The long-term goal is to sell robots packaged with software that control robot motion and operations. Such packages will dramatically reduce the amount of time it takes users to install robots.”
Image credits: Faye Pablo