BEIJING, Sept. 17 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- CCID Consulting, China's leading research, consulting and IT outsourcing service provider, and the first Chinese consulting firm listed in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: HK08235), releases its article on a comparative analysis between the IT and OA channels of China's printer market.
As an important bond to connect manufacturers with users, the distribution channel plays an important role in the process of product circulation. The existence of the channel makes it possible for extensive product sales. The channel is therefore of great significance for manufacturers, especially for those that have just entered into the market. Although printers are not a new commodity, channels still play a very important part for printer product circulation and sales in the market. Nowadays, direct selling has put more and more value on manufacturers, but channel providers are still very necessary partners. Therefore, it is very important and meaningful for printer manufacturers to get a clear understanding of the development trace and future trend of channel market.
IT and OA are channel types for the office printing and OA market, of which the IT channel is based on the printer and associated consumables market while the OA channel is based on the copying, fax and other office equipment market. Although the final goal of the two channels is to sell products to target customers, they both still have many differences in their operation modes, management modes, profit-earning modes and market position.
First of all, as far as the operation mode is concerned, the OA channel provider places more emphasis on the cooperative relationship between himself and the manufacturer, as well as on the manufacturer and terminal channel adopt direct supply mode in most cases. Therefore, the OA channel provider and manufacturer set up a close relationship in the process of operation, which facilitates mutual understanding between the channel provider and manufacturer and improves the brand loyalty of OA channel provider. But generally speaking, the IT channel provider is strongly independent, keeping a relatively independent relationship with the manufacturer. Especially for the terminal distributor at the end of channel chain, it is very difficult to set up a direct relationship with the manufacturer.
Secondly, the difference in operation concept makes the IT channel provider and the OA channel provider different in their customer expansion modes, especially for large enterprises and public service units. Most of the customers of IT channel providers are typically the IT department or technical center, computer center, information department and technological department of enterprises, while OA channel providers mainly aim at the office, financial department and logistics department of enterprises and public service units. For different sales targets, IT channel providers adopt a more transparent and more direct method in customer expansion, while OA channel providers lay more emphasis on relationship marketing and adopt long-term and thorough methods to expand customers.
Thirdly, the difference in the main operation of the service products between the IT channel and the OA channel result in different profit-earning modes. As the follow-up research of CCID Consulting shows, the IT channel generally adopts the mass distribution mode of "more net, more fish," and the product price is relatively low; therefore, most IT channel providers earn profit through the mode of "less profit, more sales volume." Even some IT channel providers directly rely on the earning returns of manufacturers and profit by selling products on the market at the manufacturer's selling price, creating a fierce price competition between different IT channels. Different from IT channel providers, OA channel providers are able to provide customers with some services that cannot be offered by manufacturers, such as provisions of consumables and after-sale maintenance services. The majority of OA channel providers also have profound technology accumulation and can gain larger profit growth space in the field of value-added services.
Finally, as far as channel management is concerned, IT channel providers manage the channels somewhat randomly with staff mobility being relatively high. This could in large part be attributed to the relatively low skill requirements and customer retention. But for OA channel providers, staff are a valuable resource, as customer retention, customer relations and technical needs cause OA channel providers to place a high value on staff, to work out a relatively comprehensive human-oriented management and training system, and to strive to reduce the mobility of staff by adopting various modes beneficial to staff promotion.
Although IT and OA channels have many differences in their operation modes, their profit-earning modes, and their management modes, the two channels also have many common features as research by CCID Consulting indicates. The common profit pursuit and intense market competition make the integration trend of the IT and OA channels more apparent, especially the rapid popularity of the printer-based multi-functional peripheral (MFP) products combining features from both IT and OA products, which is speeding up the emergence of a new and integrated single channel. At present, the IT channel is the main channel for the marketing of printer products in China market. In the first half of 2007, printer products sold through the IT channel accounted for about 68.2% of the entire market, but survey data also shows that the number of printers sold through the OA channel has been increasing rapidly. In the first half of 2007, the sales volume of printers sold through the OA channel increased over 20% than that in the same period of last year.
Fig. 1 Proportion of Channel Sales Volume in China Printer Market in the First Half of 2007
http://www.ccidconsulting.com/upload/11996.jpg
Source: CCID Consulting 2007
With the more channel integration trends and more intense market competition, it is more important for manufacturers to construct the channel concept in a refined manner. CCID Consulting thinks that, in future channel construction, the manufacturer should always place priority on meeting customer requirements, guiding the reasonable operation of channels, getting a clear understanding of channel expansion, configuring channel resources rationally and making full use of the advantages of various channels have to offer in order to achieve the value optimization of the IT and OA channels.
About CCID Consulting
CCID Consulting Co., Ltd (hereinafter known as CCID Consulting), the first Chinese consulting firm listed in the Growth Enterprise Market of the Stock Exchange (GEM) of Hong Kong (stock code: HK08235), is directly affiliate to China Center for Information Industry Development (hereinafter known as CCID Group). Headquartered in Beijing, CCID Consulting has so far set up branch offices in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Harbin, with over 300 professional consultants and industry experts. The company's business scope has covered over 200 large and medium-sized cities in China. Apart from home market development, CCID Consulting establishes international cooperation links across the United States, Asia-pacific area and Europe, by setting up agents in the U.S, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Singapore, Italy and Russia, along with the aim to be global.
Based on four major competitiveness of the powerful data channels, industrial resources, intensive knowledge and deep understandings of information technology, CCID Consulting provides customers with consulting, research and IT outsourcing services covering strategy planning, IT application, marketing strategy, human resources and information technology outsourcing. Her customers range from industrial users in IT, telecommunications, energy, finance, automobile, to government departments at all levels and diversified industrial parks. CCID Consulting commits herself to become the No.1 brand for strategy consulting, the No.1 consultant for enterprise management and the No.1 expert for market research.
For more information, please contact:
Cynthia Liu
Coordinating Manager
CCID Consulting Co., Ltd.
Tel: +86-10-8855-9080
Email: liuyan@ccidconsulting.com
