Epson taps into purchasing power of country's Generation Z market

Japanese electronics maker Seiko Epson will shore up efforts to promote its localization strategy by seizing opportunities brought by China's Generation Z consumers, said Akihiro Fukaishi, president of Epson China.

"Generation Z has real purchasing power. Therefore, many companies are using multiple tools to investigate their tastes, needs and spending habits," Fukaishi said.

After researching Gen Z, Epson discovered their requirements for media content and function, including animation, TV series, computer games, karaoke and fitness.

Such results led the company to cooperate with Tencent Video Aurora TV and develop an intelligent streaming product.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the normalization of bilateral relations between China and Japan.

It is also the 80th anniversary since Epson was established in Japan. Epson is adjusting its business strategy and product design to adapt to the needs of Chinese customers across different periods.

"When it comes to the Chinese market, we cannot help but mention our printers.

"After an upgrade, the printers can help people to print documents and pictures directly from their phones," Fukaishi said.

The business of Epson is rooted in Japanese culture and spirit. One is craftsmanship, which has been a part of the company's "Efficient, Compact and Precise" ethos in the manufacturing process for a long time. Another is respect to the client and endeavoring to help protect the environment, Fukaishi said.

At present, the highlighted products in China are mainly inkjet printers, projectors, robots and print heads.

In a bid to cut down carbon emissions and support China's dual carbon goals, the company has developed eco-friendly products and adopted heat-free technology in its printers.

Their inkjet printers do not generate heat in the ink ejection process.

The company started to provide such print heads to local partners and even competitors, such as large-format printing equipment manufacturers.

"This is because we hope to promote such printing technology to the market and bolster digitalization in the industry, in pursuit of a win-win result with Chinese local manufacturers," Fukaishi said.

Generally speaking, digital printing technology is eco-friendly, because the traditional printing methods used to cost too much in labor and water and cause pollution. Epson said it believes that digital printing can provide a solution to limiting damage to the environment.

Electronic products developed by Chinese brands have seen much improvement in quality and design compared with those produced in years before, Fukaishi said, admitting that they are rising in prominence.

Faced with this situation, Epson has committed itself to compete and cooperate with the local brands in a healthy way.

Fukaishi has been standing as the president of Epson China in the past five years. And he often talked about "China's speed" with employees.

"China's speed is very, very fast. Whether it's the speed of China's development, the new trends, or the new business models, they are all changing with each passing day," Fukaishi said.

"Therefore, if we still follow the old practice of Japanese enterprises, I think it is easy to become two or three generations behind the pace of other local enterprises," Fukaishi said.

Epson China needs to broaden the scope of cooperation to better catch up with China's speed and make contributions to China's customers and society, Fukaishi added.

Fukaishi said there is huge potential for the expansion of Chinese manufacturers of family printers because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the beginning of 2020, everyone was locked down at home. At that time, the need for household printers met a significant rise. Regardless of COVID-19, Chinese parents tended to print homework for their children.

"Therefore, I am very optimistic about the growth of household printers in the next five years and estimate that its annual growth rate will be kept at 10 percent or so," Fukaishi said.

In recent years, with the application of 5G and big data technology, new formats and business models have been emerging in the industry.

With an emphasis on "efficient, compact and precision" technology, Epson is also cultivating product lineups in the fields of robots and electronic components.

Epson's electronic components have been widely used in 5G stations.

In addition, many Epson SCARA robots are used in manufacturing, such as smartphone assembly lines, electric vehicle assembly lines and some smart factories. That is what Epson has sought to achieve in the business-to-business field.

As for the business-to-customer field, more than 1 million users have printed via the Epson WeChat mini program. Epson has also joined in efforts with local enterprises to tap into the internet of things and 5G.

liyou@chinadaily.com.cn