A typical Cartridge World store

Tired of burning a deep hole in your pocket every time your printer cartridge dries up? Instead of buying a brand new cartridge, you can now get your old, empty inkjet and laser cartridges refilled while you wait… And save 50 per cent on cost as well.

Cartridge World, the “world leader in inkjet and cartridge refilling”, has set up shop in Calcutta, after foraying into the Rs 100-crore refill industry in India with two outlets in Mumbai.

The $350m-turnover company, with over 1,500 stores worldwide, is ready to unveil its first city store at 2 Ganesh Chandra Avenue (entrance from Bentinck Street) this week.

It hopes to open 15 to 20 outlets in Calcutta over the next three years and about 250 stores in Tier I & II cities in the country. The start-up cost for each store would be around Rs 30 lakh.

“Calcutta is a very important market for us, since people buy more new cartridges here, which shows their quality consciousness,” Naveen Rakhecha, CEO of AFL Pvt Ltd, master franchisee for Cartridge World in South Asia, tells Metro.

What started as a hobby for Australian businessman Bryan Stokes in 1988, became a sustainable business nine years on. Stokes started refilling old computer cartridges in his garage and later formed Cartridge World with partner Paul Wheeler in Adelaide.

“We can refill a large range of inkjet and laser cartridges for printers, photocopiers and fax machines. We use only premium parts and our toners and inks (over 300 types of inks) are of premium quality and specific to the cartridge. Once the cartridge has been refilled, we also test it to ensure best quality print,” says Rakhecha.

Cartridge World hopes to eventually tap into the entire refill market in India, growing at 40 per cent per annum. The “one-stop shop for all printer needs” will also deal in new cartridges for inkjet printers, laser printers, fax machines and photocopiers, as well as additional supplies for fax machines and copiers.

A recycled printer cartridge can be refurbished and refilled “for approximately half the price” of a new one. “Because of inferior quality of inks used in the grey market, the average refill cycle per cartridge is only two, against our average of 10 refills. Besides, using our refilled cartridges won’t affect the printer warranty,” Rakhecha declares.

Additionally, refilling the cartridge helps local communities by reducing waste and protecting the environment, say company officials. A printer cartridge is said to take over 450 years to decompose and more than 3.4 litres of ink is needed to manufacture a laser cartridge. Over 900 million cartridges are thrown into landfill every year.

The printer business has often been likened with the razor blade business, where a big share of revenue comes from selling refills. Cartridge World, which has to cope with printer majors keen to fend off refillers wooing consumers with a cheaper option, is confident that with its “nimble franchisees and good service”, it can win over small business as well as home users.

The refill brand, one of the world’s fastest growing franchises, has been ranked number one in replacement of toner services and 13th in all franchise categories by Entrepreneur.