Why Irish businesses are choosing compatible printer consumables

Printing is an integral part of any business. Although many services or purchases are conducted in the digital sphere, printed documents are interwoven into these transactions. From printing receipts, invoices, contracts, legal documents, employment agreements, meetings notes, presentations and more, printed pages continue to be a necessity.

The office printer, therefore is an important tool for business to run smoothly. With that, there is a considerable amount of the annual budget allocated to office printing. As a result, small to medium enterprises are looking to find ways to decrease their printing costs and print smarter. One way they are achieving lower printing costs is by choosing compatible printer consumables.

Printer cartridges are infamously high priced, with OEM cartridges needing to be replaced frequently to keep up with the demanding printing volumes essential for businesses. As a result, suppliers of printer consumables are stepping in and offering a cheaper alternative to meet this increasing demand.

Compatible printer cartridges offer real savings for SME’s as they are typically filled with more ink or toner that an original printer cartridge. This offers two real benefits to the user – lower costs and less time spent replacing cartridges. With own-brand versions available for most popular printers brands such as Canon printer ink, HP, Brother and much more, the supply is available to meet the demand of business users. This opens up choice in a previously limited market.

Many larger offices prefer a monochrome laser printer due to their speed and efficiency. However, many small to medium-sized businesses choose an inkjet printer or ink tank printer due to their color print needs. This means they will be spending significantly more on ink costs in the long run. Many inkjet printers offer two cartridges only- black and color. This is the case with many popular inkjet models from HP and Canon such as the HP 304 or Canon PG-540 and CL-541. Although the upfront cost of the printer is low, the consumables are not. This type of printer ink is inefficient as it means all colours are mixed into one colour cartridge and if one colour runs out, for example cyan, the whole cartridge needs to be replaced. What compatible printer consumable brands do to combat this limitation is offer consumers an alternative to the original, the same in every regard, except fill it with more ink so users can print more pages at a lower cost per print. This makes more financial sense for a business user.

A smart choice for business users with inkjet printers is to opt for a printer that takes four cartridges- black, cyan, magenta and yellow. In busy offices where users are frequently printing in one colour, for example if a logo is yellow, they will only have to replace the yellow. Compatible printer suppliers ensure they meet the needs of these users looking for a better deal and ensure their own-brand cartridges provide higher capacity ink cartridges for lower prices, as well as cheaper multipacks.

There are of course some SME’s that prefer to stick with original manufacturer’s cartridges. The main reasons include a fear that the cartridge will damage the printer, that the print quality will be inferior or simply that they are locked into a subscription service.

However, many reputable suppliers of compatible cartridges are combatting these fears by offering a lifetime guarantee on their products to back the confidence in their products, and offering customers that extra peace of mind. Many business will find that the subscription model is an inefficient use of their budget and they can save much more on printing costs simply by working out their annual print volume and the amount of printer cartridges they need to stock up on.

Each end user has different preferences but it is clear that many Irish businesses are open to the idea of lower printing costs without compromising on quality, as many manufacturers of compatible cartridges promise.