1. Xerox Phaser 8560 Solid Ink Printer How environmental factors affect product price.

2. Product Background Solid ink based printing (no cartridges) Expandable capabilities RRP starts at $599 Dimensions of (WxDxH): 20.9 x 26.2 x 24.4 in. (532 x 665 x 620 mm)

3. Solid Ink Much easier to manufacture. Much less physical waste Less sensitive to media type (the printers can successfully print on many more different media formats e.g. Card) The printers do not produce ozone (unlike laser printers) Very little or no disposal costs or responsibilities

4. Cartridges Excess waste to the environment and disposal costs. Extra materials are required to manufacture cartridges. This is expensive and requires a large amount of logistical effort.

5. Waste To quote Xerox themselves: “Over the four year life of a typical cartridge- based toner printer, the waste generated amounts to 204Kgs. A Xerox solid ink printer produces only 10.5Kgs of waste!” -http://www.office.xerox.com/latest/856BR-01.pdf

6. Advantages this passes on to Xerox Lowered production costs Easier to source materials for production (fewer materials needed) Premiums can be charged for the initial capital cost of the printer (due to the savings in refill production costs). Logistically all ongoing refills are much easier to manage and transport.

7. Ethics and the environment Appeals to the customer conscience. The customer feels it is contributing in a positive way to the environment by using Xerox’s product and technology over the not so environmentally friendly alternatives provided by others.

8. Ways product price is affected A higher premium can now be charged for the printer itself. The savings made by Xerox in producing consumables can be passed onto the customer. Alternatively because of the exclusiveness and recent introduction of this new technology customer may still be willing to pay a premium for the product and thus the price may stay high. In turn offsetting the costs which were involved in research and development.

9. In Conclusion The factors discussed have a big part to play in product pricing. Big changes will probably be seen in how the products are priced in the future as the technology ages.