You must bear several things in mind when you are buying a printer. Not only must you choose a printer that can churn out good prints, you should also see to it that operating the device is cost effective in the long run.
Salespersons of most printer companies will try to convince you to purchase a printer by showing you high quality prints. However, you may have been told that this should not be the only parameter for choosing a particular brand or model because, more often than not, the cost of operating a printer turns out to be much higher than buying it.
This is quite true. Lately, companies that manufacture printers have drastically hiked the prices of their cartridges. Canon ink cartridges have also become quite expensive. These products have become costly not because the manufacturers are using extremely rare and expensive raw materials, but because they are spending heavily on advertising. They spending million of dollars to buy slots in the media and get across the message that users should use only their supplies while operating their machines.
The reason why so much emphasis is laid on this issue is that companies have now found out that they can make much more money by selling ink than by selling just printers. The simple reason why selling ink is more profitable is that customers need to buy printers only once in while but need to buy ink through out the year. Thus, manufacturers try their best to convince consumers to use branded supplies.
However, there is little reason to buy the argument that branded cartridges like canon ink cartridges are necessarily far better than generic cartridges. Some of the manufacturers of unbranded products so not spend money on advertising. Instead, they divert most of their resource to research and product development. They use the best raw material and manufacturing techniques to produce high quality commodities and expect prudent customers to choose their products over the over-priced branded products.
The only difficulty of buying these products is locating the right manufacturer. Since these companies do not create the brand image through the media, the onus of finding them lay with the consumer.
Once you find a trustworthy manufacturer, you can use ink cartridges made by them in your printer without harming it. These cartridges will give the same output as the branded ones.
Why customer lifetime value is the most important measurement in your business Business Articles | March 21, 2007
When I ask, all the people that I meet in business, if they know their top 10 customers, most proudly announce that they do. Then, when I then ask who their top 10 most profitable customers are, it is normally a very different look. Do you know? And why would you care? This article explores the importance of knowing the lifetime value of your customers and how to calculate it. This way, you can spot trends as they happen, and make the most from them.
How do you calculate your profitability?
You will need to apply some simple accounting rules in relation to fixed and variable costs. Stop yawning and stick with me, since this is important. OK, maybe you have a good accountant; they will be able to help you out ? if not, get a new one!
To calculate your fixed costs, look at all the items that you spend money on every year. Things like; rent, light, telephone, salary costs, etc. When you have the total, then divide that by the amount of customers you have, and that is the amount you will assign as the fixed cost to each customer.
To calculate your variable costs, you will need to add up the cost of goods sold. Items such as; material costs, variable manufacturing costs, sales commissions, lead generation costs, service costs, etc.
This will give you a total cost of doing business, and what most companies do, is apply the variable costs the same way as the fixed costs and calculate an average margin. For example if you had turnover of ?100, and your fixed costs were ?30 and the variable costs for the year were ?40, your margin would be ?30 or 30%.
How do you calculate individual customer profitability?
You have your average margin, what you now need to do is to divide your customers into groups. Suggestions would be as follows;
Top 5 revenue earning customers Middle 5 revenue earning customers Bottom 5 revenue earning customers 5 customers in each industry Additional metrics may include Location Number of employees Sales representative looking after them Products they buy
Once you have your rankings, then try and apply the above calculations to each segment. Apply your fixed costs as a proportion of revenue each customer generates.
Now apply the variable costs to each customer segment. Some products may cost more to produce. Some locations may cost more to service, and some of your larger customers may seek larger discounts, which can all eat into your margin.
Calculating the lifetime value of a customer
Once you have an average profit per segment, you can create the average profit per segment. Just by getting this far you will have obtained huge insights you?re your customer base.
You will finally need to look at how long your average customer stays with you, and how much they buy. So say customer X, has been with you for 6 years, has spent ?500 with you, and the margin has been 20%. That means the customer has generated ?100 for your bottom line.