Editing Brother Refresh EZ Print Subscription Service (section)

======Segment reliance======

Into the '''1990's''', Brother identified its Printing & Solutions ('''P&S''') segment as a global category for growth and shifted significant resources directly towards this market. And while Brother maintained its leadership in core categories such as industrial sewing, machine tools and parts, the company continued to make further gains through P&S and in electronic products such as labeling. The returns in these segments continued to provide Brother capital for expansion. They developed product lines that took advantage of broadening demand, not only through industrial buyers to whom Brother traditionally catered, but with small office and home office users ('''SOHO''') who began to purchase Brother's products for their high reliability and reasonable cost. By the mid-1990's Brother had a mature and robust printing portfolio and had released many successful and profitable lines:

*laser printers (both color & mono)
*all-in-one printers (print, fax & scan)
*inkjet printers (high-speed color)
*garment, label and mobile printers.

Throughout the late 1990's and early '''2000's''' the company continued to focus within the P&S segment and invested in long-term channel relationships. Now an establish brand, Brother's sales and profitability were firmly tied to the '''parts and consumables''' market. Brother understood that through channels such as OEM, vendors, distributors and large retailers, they could maintain strong end-user brand affiliation and leverage this to further create an ongoing demand. To acquire new industrial and SOHO buyers, Brother engaged in heavy promotional schedules and further product offerings. It introduced high-end, all-in-one laser printers and high-speed inkjet printers, all at price points not before seen in the market. Brother also sought growth in emerging countries. The company invested aggressively in Asia by promoting and selling low-cost '''monochrome laser printers''', which by now had became their strength and specialty.
[[File:Brother_FY2012_New_Product_Lines.png|thumb|504x504px]]
Then into the '''2010's''' Brother's previously positive financial results started to plateau. Its operating income and profits fell, and net sales, though marginally up, had failed to meet forecast. Furthermore, its Printing & Solutions (P&S) segment had not shown the growth expected, especially in Asia where they had invested heavily.

Despite these poor results Brother's strategy remained largely the same: '''grow in all business and all regions'''. It continued to push forward with its aggressive emerging market expansion and it increased mass advertising throughout Japan. Further products and solutions were added to the P&S portfolio including web-conferencing and greeting card software. Brother continued to focus on maintaining its US and EU presence through retail channels and seeking growth through new SOHO & SMB customers. Brother also increased sales staff, sales channels and supporting promotions in an effort to expand the sales of mono laser printers in emerging markets.

But by '''2015''' investors and shareholders had started to ask some tough questions. Brother had achieved net sales forecast targets in some segments but company-wide income and profit were in significant decline, The previously stable Machinery & Solution division was in free-fall and the anchor for sales and growth, Printing & Solutions (P&S), had suffered a 4.3% profit contraction.       

In Brother's EOY financial briefing the company acknowledged the stagnation in the P&S market and offered the following insights:       

#Global profitability in Laser Business Printers ('''LBP''') was declining due to competitor entry and generic consumables availability.
#The printer hardware market was now very mature and the targeted growth by new product releases was not returning profit.
#Digitization of documents, smartphone uptake and their affordability continued to shrink the printing market by 5% YOY.
#Multi-function Center ('''MFC''') and All-in-One ('''AIO''') machines were eroding sales growth of use-specific product lines.
#Consumables demand for conventional inkjet cartridge machines were being replaced by high-capacity Ink Tank models.

With these points Brother had informed investors that the traditional strategy of developing hardware products, releasing them through sales channels and then realizing profitability through brand recognition and consumables sales had become highly uncertain. Furthermore, Brother acknowledged that these strategies had caused model proliferation, driven up stock holding requirements, cannibalized profitable lines and may have directly encouraged the demand for generic parts alternatives.       

Here Brother did two significant things. Firstly, it downgraded its forecasts to mitigate pressure for short-term market performance stating that the business would not return to overall profitability until 2018. Secondly, and perhaps most importantly, it supported the profitability target by releasing a mid-term business strategy: '''CS [https://global.brother/en/investor/financial-info/archives B2018]'''. In this document, Brother outlined a series of broad changes. It advocated for restructured business segments and saw the need to relocate personal and investments. It wanted to consolidate internal divisions to create "synergies" supporting B2018 but all change, Brother stated, must underpin a common function and enhance the task of business model transformation. That is:       

'''<nowiki/>'To change and reposition the existing printing business to one that is clearly defined for corporate profitability enhancement'.'''