This week, we had the distinct pleasure of welcoming Gilbert, an important friend and partner from Zambia, to our company.
During his visit, Gilbert kindly took part in an in-depth interview with us, sharing his firsthand perspectives on the toner cartridge market in Zambia. He discussed the key challenges currently facing the market, offered his views on the market share of compatible versus original toner cartridges, and gave his honest assessment of the quality of Chinese-made toner cartridges. In addition, Gilbert shared valuable advice on how to effectively handle customer complaints and turn them into opportunities for improvement.
We gained a great deal from this conversation. Gilbert’s insights have provided us with practical suggestions to enhance both our products and our customer service. We are truly grateful for his openness, expertise, and continued friendship. Moving forward, we will use what we have learned from Gilbert to better serve our customers – not only in Zambia but around the world.
As below is the conversation during the interview.
Whitney: Hi Gilbert, nice to see you again.
Gilbert: Thank you very much.
Whitney: Actually this is the second time you come to TONER MASTER. So today I don’t want to talk about our products or business with you. l just want to get some idea about the market in Zambia.
Gilbert: Yeah yeah no problem
Whitney: You are from Zambia. In 2026 what kind of challenge do you think you will be facing in the market in Zambia?
Gilbert: Yeah we can talk about business it’s okay. Now focusing on the markets, I think Zambia is growing market for toner cartridge just because more companies are opening up. So if more companies are coming up, which means the higher the demand of toner cartridge. So I can say as now the market is opening as compared to maybe the way it used to be in the past. The current market does now I can describe it as positive.
Whitney: Actually you know we are doing the compatible toner cartridge, so we also get the challenge from the compatible and original. So in the Zambia market, how do you feel for the percent the people to request for original and compatible.
Gilbert: Yeah if you look at the market challenge for compatible toner cartridge, many different institutions are switching from the original to the compatible. Why? Maybe this is being pricing for the original. Maybe again seeing that they can operate the same. So yeah in the old days, it was difficult to sell compatible toner cartridge. But if you look at the market right now, they are absorbing the compatible because of the pricing, also the quality. It is easy to source. So compatible is the future that is just coming into Africa right now.
Whitney: Yeah because it is a big market not only for Zambia and also for other countries in Africa. And I know that you are also doing business with a Chinese for a long time. So how do you feel for the quality in the past year and right now? I know that for our manufacturer
we always keep improving our quality.
Gilbert: Yeah again it depends on the supplier and the material they use. You know you can have many different suppliers, but what determines the good sales is the quality of the toner cartridge. What I have seen myself is that as compared maybe some years back if you order the toner cartridge, you will find that the rate of damage is different from the way towards last time.
Whitney: Yeah quality is quite important. Only the quality can keep for a long business. Sometime the customers will focus more on the quality than the price, but it also depends on the market.
Gilbert: The primary thing her is the quality and pricing. Because if you want to get something that is of low price, you also expect it not to perform to the standard. It is a matters of balancing the pricing and the quality. But I think now most factories are doing stable.
Whitney: Okay and thank you for the sharing. Last question. When facing the complain from customers, I also want to know, how to give a best solution for the defective problem with the customers?
Gilbert: I think that is the main point we normally ignore in business. You know it is how the sales team will behave towards a customer. And that will keep a customer and make the customer much to sell. I think the solution is the balance between the customers and the sales.
Whitney: Okay and thank you for today’s sharing these ideas with me. I think we will have a better way to improve our products and also our sales skill. Thank you very much again.
Gilbert: It is my pleasure. Thank you.