Issue #0733/1 - More special deals are rolling out of Samsung’s marketing arm, pushing the entry price of colour laser printing ever lower. But, users need to shop around to ensure the Total Cost of Printing is as low as possible.
Samsung has now done a deal with Dabs in the UK to undercut the special offer at Staples by selling its smallest colour laser printer at just £129 ex tax (£151.57 inc. tax) WITH a four-colour toner bundle thrown into the bargain, while Savastore (see Issue #0731 – "Now the Samsung CLP-300 can be bought for £109.98 inc. tax and delivery") now offers it at £99.99 inclusive but without the bundled toner pack.
This presents a totally different picture to the scene set by the Staples deal (see article "Samsung promoting hard to get ahead – but ’special deal’ at Staples is a joke" in Issue #0728).
Perhaps the biggest difference, apart from the extraordinarily deep discounting on the product, is that Dabs stocks all the supplies items for the printer, selling them at competitive pricing. Staples supplies pricing is not competitive and the store does not carry anything but the toner.
This means that anyone buying the printer at Staples is obliged to go elsewhere for imaging unit and waste toner container.
In fact, Samsung contacted TCPglobal following the previous article to query the fact that we had used Staples pricing for the toner in the comparison instead of using typical pricing from other stores. The answer is simple – the comparison was between Staples and other stores.
Clearly Samsung’s approach to this issue does not engender customer loyalty to any store – but then Staples is not helping by not stocking the other supplies items – and I’m not sure that Staples will appreciate Samsung taking this stance. What it does emphasise with utmost clarity is that Samsung’s strategy is absolutely in line with my favourite quote “This is not about the box, it is about year-in year-out revenue”.
If Samsung can get the boxes into the market – at whatever cost to itself – it is assured of ongoing, year-in year-out, revenue from the toner and other supplies – at good profit levels.
What Staples cannot benefit from is the revenue from any supplies other than toner because of its stock strategy – big mistake. Staples is driving its customers directly into other stores instead of captivating by making it unnecessary for them to look around.
So, in light of this new offer through Dabs, it is well worth throwing in some extra comparisons to those presented in the prior issue "Samsung promoting hard to get ahead – but ’special deal’ at Staples is a joke" and these can include a comparison with a purchase of the hardware through Staples but using the typical pricing for supplies from other stores to help set the record straight.
|
UK <£200 A4 colour laser |
Typical Purchase |
Print Speed |
Nominal CPP * |
Mixed mono/colour CPP over 3 years * |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Canon LaserShot LBP-5000 |
£165 |
Mono Colour |
8ppm 8ppm |
1.88 pence 9.38 pence |
4.50 pence |
|
Canon LaserShot LBP-5200 |
£196 |
Mono Colour |
19ppm 4ppm |
1.63 pence 8.25 pence |
4.16 pence |
|
Dell 1320cn |
£116 |
Mono Colour |
16ppm 12ppm |
1.66 pence 9.47 pence |
4.15 pence |
|
Hewlett-Packard Colour LaserJet 1600 |
£182 |
Mono Colour |
8ppm 8ppm |
1.80 pence 9.03 pence |
4.39 pence |
|
Konica Minolta Magicolor 2500w |
£172 |
Mono Colour |
20ppm 5ppm |
1.24 pence 7.98 pence |
4.03 pence |
|
Samsung (Dabs deal) CLP-300 |
£165 |
Mono Colour |
16ppm 4ppm |
2.79 pence 11.37 pence |
5.02 pence |
|
Samsung (Typical Retail) CLP-300 |
£135 |
Mono Colour |
16ppm 4ppm |
2.57 pence 12.06 pence |
5.32 pence |
|
Samsung (Staples deal) CLP-300 |
£180 |
Mono Colour |
16ppm 4ppm |
2.77 pence 13.35 pence |
5.60 pence |
|
Samsung (Savastore deal) CLP-300 |
£100 |
Mono Colour |
16ppm 4ppm |
2.56 pence 12.24 pence |
5.73 pence |
|
Xerox Phaser 6110 |
£149 |
Mono Colour |
16ppm 4ppm |
2.77 pence 14.22 pence |
6.62 pence |
All prices and costs inc. tax and delivery
Note that for this level of machine, the mixed mono/colour CPP over three years shown in the accompanying table is calculated on the basis of 1,000 pages per month; 70% pages in mono and 30% pages in colour; is based on the use of maximum capacity supplies; takes into account any standard, or starter, supplies shipped with the device; and also includes the cost of purchase. All prices are street prices including tax and delivery, except for the Staples deal that assumes collection from store.
Cost of Printing
Sub-£200 (Typical Retail Price) colour laser printers
Cost of Printing
Sub-£200 (Typical Retail Price) colour laser printers
This shows us that users can indeed keep their costs down by taking advantage of the Staples deal but making sure they shop almost anywhere else for their ongoing supplies.
However, you will notice from the charts that the story does not – now – end there. Samsung has enabled two other offers on the CLP-300 in the UK – through Savastore and Dabs.
Let’s dispense with Savastore first because it actually works out as an even more expensive option than Staples, despite sharing the lowest purchase price so far recorded. This is because the store does not sell the toner multi-pack at all. So, loyal customers would have to buy all of their toners separately.
In order to keep the comparison as true as possible, it has been assumed that all three colour toners will be purchased at once, with just one delivery charge for all three.
Buying toners separately is almost always the more expensive way of making the purchase, although this is not guaranteed - it has been noted that there are toner multi-packs on the market that do not offer a saving.
At 1,000 pages per month, although the nominal colour CPP is lower than it would be from Staples, the long-term CPP is slightly higher because the cartridges are purchased as individual items. Even the low Savastore pricing is unable to compensate for this drawback.
Even when reducing the print volume (to 500 pages per month) and adjusting the balance of mono to colour pages printed, we don’t see the long-term CPP falling below the level of the Staples deal.
What this investigation underlines is that users should always buy toner multi-packs whenever they are available and when the situation calls for it (e.g. don’t buy a multi-pack when you already have colour toners sitting unused in the cupboard – buy just the black).
If we move on to consider the deal available through Dabs, we see more evidence to emphasise this point.
Here we find the incredible price of £129 ex tax, meaning £165 once delivery and VAT is added. BUT, this includes a toner multi-pack as a bundle deal. In addition, Dabs has a reputation for selling at some of the keenest prices in the UK, with the four-colour multi-pack coming in at under £100 (97.87) including delivery and tax. To compensate a little, Dabs actually sells the black toner at a high price (£41.39).
Cost of Printing
Samsung CLP-300 colour laser printer
Cost of Printing
Samsung CLP-300 colour laser printer
Overall though, this puts the Dabs deal as the overall lowest cost option where the CLP-300 is concerned.
So, let’s now consider this position more closely, comparing just the situation surrounding the CLP-300 and leaving out all the competition, where we will add in figures to represent a buyer taking advantage of the Staples deal for the purchase and then buying all supplies at typical average prices from other stores.
Buying the hardware through Staples and the supplies at the typical average price used shows as being a very cost-effective solution. However, it is not quite as cost-effective as buying everything through Dabs even though the nominal mono CPP from Dabs is slightly higher.
We have one last addition to complete the picture and one last chart to illustrate it. And that is to assume total purchasing infidelity, with the customer taking hardware and supplies only from the source with the lowest possible price. The chart shows the expected cumulative out-of-pocket expenditure at the end of each quarter through the three-year period of ownership.
Expenditure over three years - various stores
Samsung CLP-300 at 500 pages per month - 70% mono / 30% colour
Page count at end of quarter
0 = point of purchase| 1.5K | 3K | 4.5K | 6K | 7.5K | 9K | 10.5K | 12K | 13.5K | 15K | 16.5K | 18K |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Y1/Q1 | Y1/Q2 | Y1/Q3 | Y1/Q4 | Y2/Q1 | Y2/Q2 | Y2/Q3 | Y2/Q4 | Y3/Q1 | Y3/Q2 | Y3/Q3 | Y3/Q4 |
To get the very best deal, buyers should go to Dabs for the machine itself and the waste toner cartridge but buy all the toners, along with the imaging unit, from other stores where pricing is lower even than Dabs.
Notice that there is some considerable position shifting in terms of expenditure during the first year or so but that the position stabilises after that, with the exception of the Savastore deal which continues to criss-cross because individual cartridge purchases are being made all the time instead of buying multi-packs when all four colours are needed.
Although the buyer has to pay one of the higher prices at the outset in order to achieve the best deal, the fact that the first toner multi-pack is thrown in means that further purchases are not required until the third quarter of the first year of ownership. This is bound to engender a decent feel-good factor.
From that point on, the cumulative expenditure is never anything but the lowest.
So, bottom line is that Samsung doesn’t care where you buy from as long as you buy Samsung. The recommendation has to be that if you want to buy the CLP-300, go to Dabs as being the best all-round deal at the moment, and for the best in long-term economy, as long as you shop around for the cheapest deal on toner every time you need to make a purchase.
However, if you want the ultimate in economy for low-end colour laser printing, the Konica Minolta 2500w is still the best bet with higher print speeds, competitive purchase price and the lowest long-term Cost of Printing - 25% lower than the best deal on the CLP-300. Or, for higher colour usage, the Canon LaserShot LBP-5200 comes in as the best deal.
~End~
