Cartridge World plans retail chain expansion

Hyderabad: Australian retail chain offering printers and its consumables, Cartridge World, has announced its move to triple retail stores in the country by the year-end.

The $450-million retail chain with 1,600-plus stores across the globe and 33 of them in India, is also evaluating the prospect of offering facility to service printers in their stores, apart from selling cartridges of both original equipment manufacturers and refilled ones.

The Chief Executive Officer of Cartridge World, Mr Naveen Rakhecha, said that the company commissioned its 33rd store and expects to close this year with about 100 stores, all of them through the franchisee route.

Logistics and supply chain company, AFL is the Indian representative for Cartridge World.

“The Indian market for cartridges is now at Rs 2,500 crore project to touch Rs 3,000 crore this year. It is growing at an average rate of about 30 per cent per annum. We are looking at garnering about 10 per cent of the total market in India,” he said. Addressing a press conference here recently, Mr Naveen said the chain expects to enhance its presence in not just tier-I cities but also in tier-II cities.

With the higher adoption of multifunction printers, consumers are presented with more opportunities to print, fax, copy and scan. With the advent of e-transactions, including e-ticketing, and option for printing pictures at home, the market for printers and its consumables, cartridges is poised for growth.

Mr Naveen said that they offered refilled cartridges at half the cost of the new ones. This will ensure that about 70 per cent of people, who dispose off their cartridges after use, consider reuse by refilling.