Company increases Korean sales target for this year to 80 billion won


With a goal of selling 1 million printers in the Asia-Pacific region, Fuji Xerox Printers Korea plans on introducing its products to 100,000 people here this year.

Hwang Yoo-chun, chief executive officer of the company, said that it has fixed its target at 100,000 printers in Korea alone, as well as 500,000 printers in China.

“We’ve set our goal at 1 million printers in the Asia Pacific this year and it would be a record to break the 1 million mark for Fuji Xerox if it comes true,” Hwang said in an interview with The Korea Herald.

“This means that we will be meeting with 1 million customers across the region.”

Pointing out that Korea was the third-largest market in the information technology industry, after Japan and China, it has become the test bed because of the market’s uniqueness and the various customers’ needs, he said.

“It has turned into a market that can’t be ignored and that’s why firms are rushing into the printer market in Korea,” said Hwang.

According to a recent report published by IDC Korea, the total sales of laser printers and multi-function printers in Korea increased 27 percent last year and are expected to rise by another 4.5 percent by 2015.

Hwang, however, said that together with the ink jet printer market, which is expected to create an additional 2 million more units in demand, the printer industry will see sales grow by 3 million units.

“Multi-function printers are considered to be the best-quality items for Fuji Xerox Printers and the new line-up, released last December, which targeted entry users included that kind,” he said.

The company introduced six new single-function and multi-functions printers, which are priced at 100,000 to 300,000 won, for individual customers in December. It had focused on high-end printers for business-to-business customers in the past.

Although the percentage of the market made up by multi-function printers is only in single digits, the company plans on giving more weight to that sector, expanding it to take up 30-40 percent of its line-up by next year.

Fuji Xerox Printers Korea, a small firm in terms of staff with a total of 21 employees, has established this year’s sales target at 80 billion won ($73.48 million), up from 70 billion won in 2010. It sold a total of 80,000 printers in Korea last year, according to its officials.

The company, which is a multi-national firm headquartered in Australia, is also planning to release a mobile application that would let people print from smartphones and tablet PCs.

Serving as the country manager for Fuji Xerox Printers Korea for over a decade, he said the time had come for the company to fully release its new line-up in the local market, adding that the firm has struggled for the past two years due to marketing restraints.

“Products labeled with the name Fuji Xerox have now been launched and we are able to sell those items in Korea,” he said. “We will keep knocking on the door of the Korean market and I believe the future is bright.”

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)

Hwang Yoo-chun

• Age: 51

• Business Career:
2004.11- : CEO of Fuji Xerox Printers Korea

2000.1 - 2004.11: CEO of Fuji Xerox Phaser Printing Korea

1998.2 - 2000.1: Director of Tetronix Korea’s Color Printer Enterprise Department

1995.7 - 1998.2: Head of Motorola PPG Enterprise Department

1986.7 - 1995.7: Joined Averatec