BusinessWeek Covers the Ink Wars

Last Thursday, I referred you to an article by Eric Butterfield about a third-party ink seller whom he had heard of, but not yet tried. It seems as if this is the story-of-the-month -- Business Week has also published a story describing what they call "a new breed of fast-growing upstarts...out to crash the profit party."

The way these companies are gaining a foothold is by selling their refilled cartridges in retail stores, rather than just through the Web. This new method allows people to walk in, have their cartridges refilled in a matter of minutes, and then go home again, have spent a fraction of what they would have shelled out for a new name-brand cartridge.

Is it working? According the article, these stores have already capture about 10 percent of the U.S. market. Considering how big that market is, that's not bad at all. It's at least something to look into.

Upstarts Spread in the Ink Wars