Brother launches 'Netflix-style' print subscription service for small customers

New launch will require no credit checks for customers and can be cancelled at any time according to GM for sales Greig Millar

Brother has unveiled a new print subscription service aimed at small businesses, claiming that it will enable resellers to earn new margin from consumables sales.

The new service, called PrintSmart Essential will enable businesses to pay a monthly fee for print supplies, installation, supplies recycling and maintenance services.

Subscription packages range from £17 to £62 per month depending on page allowance and the model of printer.

PrintSmart Essential is available across Brother inkjet and laser devices including MFC-L8690CDW colour laser printer and the MFC-J5945DW colour inkjet model.

Speaking to CRN, Brother UK's GM for sales, Greig Millar, said the new service is unique because it does not require customers to pass any credit checks or sign any credit agreements and can be cancelled at any time.

"It really is as close as you can get to that Netflix-type subscription offering," he said.

"There's always more steps with offers from other manufacturers, whether that's because application forms are involved, which you have to fill out and send back, or there might be a minimum term of the agreement."

PrintSmart Essential is still in pilot stage and is being tested through eight partners across the UK and the Netherlands.

The pilot stage will look to streamline internal processes to make sure the subscription-based billing runs smoothly for customers before it is rolled out to a mass market, Millar added.

The service will be "low touch, but high reward" for resellers, said Millar, with Brother handling the billing and services related to the subscription but with resellers benefitting from consumable sales which they often miss out on.

"They're usually focused on hardware sales and they won't usually have the team or the skill set to then do an attachment sale of consumables and they lose out to some of the larger retailers and larger online platforms. This gives them a chance to actually capture the consumable market and get paid that margin for consumables that they never normally would've sold," he said.

The launch comes after Brother reported a "record-breaking" quarter of MPS print volumes for the last three months of 2021, when it delivered 78.1 million pages - its highest quarterly total.

Millar said that its most successful verticals for managed print have been retail and healthcare, two verticals which excelled during the pandemic last year.

"On the retail side, it was predominantly supermarkets. Sainsbury's printing did not reduce during the pandemic, if anything, it probably increased. In health care, obviously, there is still a demand for printing, although prescription printing in a doctor's surgery is now starting to move into the pharmacy as they move to electronic prescriptions," he said.

"Those sectors which we've got a lot of managed devices in were not as effected by the pandemic. A lot of other print manufacturers in Europe have the bulk of their MPS agreements in banking, and when everyone went to work from home, that probably had an affect on them.

"We did still see an influx of machines purchased transactionally to fulfil working from home environments as a lot of companies were trying to deal with the pandemic."