Just over a year since Oki Europe established offices in Warsaw, Prague and Budapest, 10% of dot matrix printers assembled at the firm’s manufacturing plant in Cumbernauld in Scotland are now shipping to East European states. Speaking in Prague at a press conference to launch the company’s range of facsimile machines in the Czech Republic, Oki Europe’s Central and East European manager, Terry Laidlaw, estimated the firm has captured a 15% share of the overall printer market in Poland last year equivalent to some 20,000 units – as well as 5% to 610% of the dot matrix market in the Czech and Slovak Republics and in Hungary. In Poland, Laidlaw said Oki Europe had made massive inroads into the market share of Star Micronics Inc and Seikoisha Corp. Overall, Laidlaw said Oki was set to grow its business in the region in its second financial year (to this month) by 35,010% over its first year of operation. The company also shipped some 1,000 units to Bulgaria via a Greek business partner and 1,000 units to Romania, which is handled by the Hungarian operation. Laidlaw said Oki officials had now made three trips to the Ukraine prospecting for dealers and distributors and expected to establish a distribution network in the country shortly – the Russian market is currently handled by Oki from Japan. The company is also in the process of signing up distributors in Slovenia, Laidlaw said.
