Do You Have A Product That Is UNIQUE and CONSUMABLE?

As a member of The Popular Bookstore, my wife was given a 20%-discount voucher which expires on 31 December 2005. Today, we went to pick up some textbooks and assessment books for our children to get them ready for next year. While in the bookstore, I met a young lady who was hastily picking up a box of ink cartridge and rushing off to the cashier. I managed to strike a quick conversation with her, sharing my little experience with ink cartridges.

I have been using inkjet printers for years. I have tried various popular brands in the market and calculated the cost of the ink cartridges consumed. Usually, all the colours are combined into one single cartridge. Even if only one colour runs out, you have to replace the entire colour cartridge. It is wasteful and costly. After doing some simple survey, I am now using Epson Stylus R210. This printer uses one black and five individual colour cartridges. I only need to replace the one that is empty. It saves much. The saving was enhanced further when I accidently found another alternative brand at Sim Lim Square a few months ago, that costs only 1/3 of the price. It is as good as the original. I have been using them for months now. Recently, I managed to buy them at a holiday promotional price of 1/3 of the 1/3 price!!! Of course, without hesitation, I bought a few sets in one go. A business decision!

Talking about business, do the printer companies make more money selling printers or the ink cartridges? Obviously, it is the ink cartridges because they are consumable. It is such consumability that gives the companies repeat orders and hence repeat income.

One of the principles of business success is that we need to have a product or service that is both unique and consumable. If the product were unique, we don't have to compete on price and convenience. But, being unique alone is not good enough, it has to be consumable so that we could generate repeat income from repeat orders.