High cost, safety concerns may see prints on demand flop in India: Survey

Lofty pricing, combined with concerns regarding the security of the business model, could see one of India’s latest hyperlocal services flop upon arrival. The service in question is prints on demand, which hyperlocal service providers that have so far operated on the grocery front are seemingly set to provide. With some of these services having rolled out already, a survey by local community network Local Circles stated on Monday that four out of every five users of hyperlocal services are already prepared to shun prints on demand.

In late August, Zomato-owned quick delivery service Blinkit announced the print on delivery offering in select areas of Gurugram, Haryana — the city where Zomato is headquartered. The service presently charges users ₹9 per page of a black and white print, and ₹19 per page of a colour print. Additionally, it also charges users ₹25 as convenience fee for the service — alongside the distance-based delivery charges that would apply as per usual.

Upon the initial rollout itself, the service faced criticism from users who found the charges to be exorbitant. Without delivery fee, a single copy of print may cost users up to ₹44 — which is significantly higher than local store prices.

Adding on this, the Local Circles survey stated that a number of reasons may add up to pose challenges for print on demand and delivery services to see adoption in the country. While the survey found that only six out of every 10 families in the country have monthly printing needs, each of them also already have a printer at home.

As a result, according to the survey covering over 42,000 responses, four out of every five respondents do not require these services. Additionally, 67% of the respondents said that they either have no printing needs, or at most, require between five to 20 pages per month.

According to market research firm International Data Corporation (IDC)’s market data for the June quarter this year, printer shipments grew by 20.5% annually to hit 8.4 lakh units during this period. However, dropping consumer demand impacted the rise in business usage and office reopenings, as printer shipments fell 16.7% over the March quarter.

HP, Epson and Canon cumulatively accounted for 88.7% of the Indian printer market, including consumer and commercial segments.