In Japan’s office environment, a traditionally conservative culture has slowed down paperless practices compared to other countries. However, the enforcement of the revised Electronic Books Maintenance Act (Dencho Law) in 2022 has intensified corporate digitization efforts. In particular, from 1 January, 2024, compulsory protection of electronic transactions data has forced companies to transition from paper documents to electronic data.
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This legislative change has given significant attention to the digitization of the challan, which is called “Invoice DX”. Cloud service providers such as Rakus and Sansan have achieved remarkable success in the field. Services such as Rakus’s “Rakurku Misai” and Sansa’s “Bill One” have been widely adopted by many companies, which increase operating efficiency.
Concurrently, office printing demand is a noticeable decline. Prominent OEM manufacturers like Ricoh and Konika Minolta are undergoing structural reforms to adapt to this declining demand. Despite the strong commercial performance, Rico has announced a shortage of about 2,000 employees to improve profitability. Similarly, Konika Minolta has revealed a plan to cut around 2,400 jobs.
These market shifts are also affecting remnsers -toner cartridge manufacturers. As the office printing is required, the demand for reministed toners is contracted, inspired by the manufacturers to detect the new business model and diversify their product lines.
The Association of Japan Cartridge Remancumen (AJCR), which includes major domestic remnar toner factories, publishes annual figures, which shows the bottom in the shipment volume of the Remainufarded toner cartridge:
Japan’s change towards paperless operations has made great progress, which is inspired by legislative changes. While the conservative corporate culture and the dynamics of the market can delay a complete transition, the wave of digitization is indisputably increasing. The Japanese office supply industry should now prepare strategies to adapt to this developed landscape.
While the above discussion focuses on the B2B region – especially office printing – the position in the B2C area, such as personal printing, is even more challenging. An important indicator is a steep decline in the demand for the New Year Card (Nengazo), which historically played an essential role in Japan’s individual printing market.
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About 20 years ago, issuing the New Year card reached around 4.4 billion cards. However, the number has steadily declined, the release of this season has dropped by about 1.07 billion cards from year to year. Additionally, the number of cards given on the New Year, which exceeded 1 billion in 2022, has fallen by about 490.52 million this year, marking a 34% decline compared to the previous year. This drop is the largest in more than a decade, with total half in just three years.
The rapid increase in the last decline in the final decline has accelerated the trend of “Nengajo abandonment”. Along with the wide adoption of email and social media, Japan’s aging society is jointly expected to continue in the declining seasons. As a result, the important component of individual printing in Japan is decreasing from the demand for home-use inkjet printers and inkjet cartridges, which is uncertain their future.
About the author
Koichi Yoshizuka established in 2005 Qrie Ltd. Is the founder and CEO of. Sangat ink and toner are expert in importing and wholesale for the QREE printer. The company has successfully expanded online sales through its e-commerce site and major platforms like Rakutane, Amazon and Yahoo! Shopping, serving a diverse customers from corporate customers to individual consumers. Famous for quality and strength, Qrie has won Rakten’s victory Year shop Three times prizes in electronics category.
In addition, Curie is actively developing new digital businesses and products operated by employee innovation. Today, Curie claims an annual sales of about 14 million USD and appoints 45 dedicated staff members. Under the leadership of Koichi Yoshijuka, Curie continues to flourish and innovate in the competitive printer supply market.
Koichi Yoshijuka was also a special speaker at the Remaxworld Summit 2024 held in October during the Remaxworld Expo in Zhuhai, China. In his address, he highlighted the unique characteristics of the Japanese printing and copy market.
For communication, you can contact Koichi Yoshijuka on LinkedIn.
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