Printer prices plunge at retail - Special Supplement: Home Office Merchandising

Discount Store News, August 17, 1992

The high-profile computer price war has overwhelmed a similar, and even more dramatic, pricing revolution in home printers. With standard daisy wheel prices plunging under the $200 mark, other technologies have been forced to cut prices as well, including the Mercedes of the category, laser printers.

"Laser is just another commodity now," noted WORKplace's Jim Nakamura. "With prices now below $700, and falling, it's no longer an upscale purchase, even if it is still a pretty fancy price point."

While the major growth in the category has come from mid-range ink-jet printers, particularly with new models from Royal and Smith-Corona retailing at well under $400, daisy wheel has mounted a major comeback. "Panasonic is once again dominant in the marketplace," Nakamura said. "The combination of their new Quiet Line technology, color adaptors and low price points makes them a triple threat."

Panasonic's Terry Sharrock, to no one's surprise, concurs. "Dot matrix has been declining at about 10% a year, but it is still a strong technology. It's not as dead as people seem to think. It has specific uses that home office users need, like spread sheet capability and multiple forms, and it costs a lot less per page than laser."

But the real impetus for increasing sales, at least for Panasonic, is the improvement of the technology.

"The new dot matrix printers are almost silent, they have font scaling and color capabilities, cassette systems and LCD displays that make them more desireable in the mass market," Sharrock said. "We're seeing a clearly tiered market developing in which consumers are buying different printers for different purposes. For correspondence quality, laser is it. But the average home office user needs rough drafts, and spreadsheets as well, and dot matrix costs about a half a cent per page compared to three cents a page for laser."

"Dot matrix is definitely on the way back," WORKplace's Nakamura said. "You can get a quiet, 24-pin printer today for a fraction of what one used to cost. We're seeing a lot of people who bought a 9-pin printer a few years ago stepping up to 24-pin. At the prices out there (as low as $179 for a non-quiet, 24-pin printer that can come close to letter quality), dot matrix is a bargain."

Actually, everything is a bargain these days. Home office users have never had it so good.

Laser printers cost $1,500 two years ago; they can be had for half of that today. Ink jet printers, which offer better print quality than dot matrix, can be had for the price of an upper-end dot matrix printer.

Royal's new ink jet printer, introduced at this summer's CES, is aimed squarely at the home office. With a footprint "about the size of a loaf of bread," according to the company's Gary Schwarz, as well as advanced compatibility with existing computer systems.

"We're giving the consumer a good versatile printer, with 60 fonts and high resolution, for well under $400 street price," Schwarz said. An optional sheet feeder will list for an additional $149, he added.

Laser may have come down in price, but to get the features available in dot matrix and ink jet, such as scalable fonts and extra fonts, the price remains well over $1,000. The $700 printers on the market are appropriate for straight-ahead correspondence, and not much else.

"Dot matrix really gives the consumer more choice at mass market prices," Nakamura noted. "The letter quality is pretty good, and otherwise, you get a lot more for your money."

"At today's prices and features, I don't understand how you can let a [computer] customer out the door without buying a printer," added another retailer.