Picture perfect: Why originality matters when it comes to consumables
First impressions count in business, which is why high-quality designs, images and branded corporate and marketing materials deserve to be reproduced with pin-point sharpness and true colour likeness.
Yet, having invested in top-quality printing hardware, some businesses are still being tempted into using third-party compatible products that fail to deliver when it matters – leaving behind messy marks on pages, unsatisfied prospects and customers and, in some cases, expensive equipment that cannot be repaired.
- Sacrificing quality for cost
It’s easy to understand the allure of third party consumables – it all comes down to cost. Keeping costs down in important in business, but it’s a common misconception that third party consumables actually save the business money.
The fact of the matter is, third party consumables often cost businesses more money because they diminish the quality of your printed materials. From a marketing perspective, high quality printed collateral will build a strong first impression with potential customers. Poorly printed collateral could give the impression that quality doesn’t matter to your business. As a result those potential customers could expect your quality of service to be just as poor.
- No-frills refills won’t add value
Often third-party manufacturers refill empty cartridges from the original manufacturers. Analysis of refilled consumables against original consumables conducted by Buyers Laboratory LLC (BLI) revealed that pages printed using third party consumables were visibly impaired by toner contamination, excessive spotting and vertical lines which indicated drum surface damage.
Not only were the pages unsuitable for presenting both to people outside the business, they were unsuitable for presenting to those inside the business too. If your internal documents aren’t fit for purpose, your marketing materials won’t be either.
- Buying third-party means forfeiting reliability
The BLI testing found third party consumables fall short of delivering the reliability you would expect from your printer. Testing against OKI original consumables in an OKI device, BLI found that the third-part consumables impacted reliability of the device while the OKI consumables provided ‘flawless’ reliability.
We’ve all experienced tight deadlines preparing marketing materials for campaign launches and important events where new customers can be won. But third consumables often means sacrificing reliability for cost and risking poorly printed materials or worse, no marketing materials at all because your once reliable printer is out of action.
- Ensure you’re working with the real deal
Businesses that do intend to use original consumables can unwittingly end up using counterfeit consumables. OKI provides a simple online authentication tool that determines whether you have purchased genuine OKI consumables or counterfeit products that could provide poor printer performance or worse, damage your device.
OKI takes sustainability seriously and ensures its customers can operate to the same environment standards by recycling 97% of the consumables our customers use. This complimentary service even includes free postage for customers sending used consumables back to us.
While lower costs make third-party consumables an attractive option, buying original will ensure consistent colour and quality in your marketing collateral while protecting your devices from damage. From maintaining the best possible print quality to protecting your devices and achieving greener credentials, always think original when it comes to replenishing your consumables.
