Epson Ink Cartridge Sales set to increase

Epson is currently top of the printer manufacturer sales listing, with five of the top ten best selling inkjet printers of the summer.

The full results from market research firm GfK (http://www.gfk.co.uk) were:
1) Epson Stylus C48,
2) Epson Stylus Photo R220,
3) Lexmark Z735,
4) Epson Stylus D68,
5) Canon Pixma iP4200,
6) Epson Stylus D88,
7) Lexmark Z617,
8) Epson Picturemate 100,
9) HP Deskjet 3940,
10) HP Photosmart 8050

Three of these models, the Stylus D68,D88 and Stylus photo R220 use individual ink cartridges for each colour, allowing replacement of colours as they run out. Individual cartridges for these models are available for under £5 from the likes of Cartridge Concept (http://www.cartcon.co.uk/products/Inkjet_Cartridges/Epson/ ) and specialist highstreet outlets. With Epson’s continued success in restricting sales of compatible cartridges their position in the UK market looks set to grow.

Canons’ only entrant into the top 10 is positioned at 5, with the Pixma iP4200 which also uses individual ink cartridges and although these are more expensive than Epson have the benefit of having a larger capacity.

Lexmark take the opposite tack with the Z735 printer at No.3, this printer uses only one cartridge, which is appropriately called No.1. This cartridge contains all the colours in the one unit, making replacement a simple but possibly frequent occurrence as individual colour run out. This appears to be a fact which Lexmark seem to be aware of, as shown by the recent introduction of a twin pack.

Hewlett Packard fills both slots 9 and 10 with their Deskjet 3940 and Photosmart 8050 printer respectively. Both of these printers maintain the middle ground, using separate black and colour cartridges, while a third separate Photo cartridge is available for the Photosmart printer.

The latest introductions from all these manufacturers have shown a similar trend with both Epson and Canon favouring individual colour cartridges which can be replaced singularly whenever required. Hewlett Packard has however currently restricted this configuration to their higher priced Photosmart models, preferring to join Lexmark in providing the two/three cartridge set up for the bulk of their range.