A colleague newsagent yesterday was this week asked to supply a local business with ink. The opportunity hit a barrier when the newsagent discovered they could not source the ink they needed for the printer in use in the local business as the ink was only available from Officeworks.
It is frustrating when printer manufacturers launch new printers with an exclusive ink cartridge supply deal that forces shoppers to go back to the seller of the printer for a period of time.
This type of move cannot be good for competition as it provides the printer retailer, Officeworks maybe, a guarantee flow of shopper traffic. Where is the incentive to be competitive on price? Where is the Officeworks price guarantee in this?
Manufacturers and retailers committed to the best service and price for shoppers would ensure a genuinely open marketplace based on the principles of open competition.
Deals between printer manufacturers and retailers do not serve the customer, they do not serve an open and competitive marketplace.
Deals between printer manufacturers and retailers ought to be disclosed at the point of sale along the lines of:
CUSTOMER SERVICE NOTICE.
Buying this printer here locks you in to purchase ink from us for xxx months. You will not be able to purchase ink elsewhere. As we will be the only supplier of the ink, it will not be subject to our price guarantee. Indeed, price comparison will be impossible.
Thank you for shopping with us.
This happened in my store a couple of weeks ago when a customer wanted a local supplier of ink fore her Office Works purchased printer. From memory it was pretty clear when googling the printer that Office Works had it all sewn up. She was rather pissed off with OW.
Its not the fact that Officeworks has the exclusivity deal on ink for these printer models, its the fact that Officeworks doesn’t disclose this fact that really annoys me.
That said, there is clearly an opening for one of those companies that makes 3rd party non-OEM “generic” cartridges to rush cartridges for these printer models into production ASAP to undercut Officeworks and take business away…
Yes Jonathan, it makes a mockery of their price guarantee claim.