Canon inaugurated their first ever 40,000 square feet B2B “business solutions lounge” in India at the Vipul Agora Mall in Gurgaon on 12 May 2008. The lounge is a new concept providing enterprise customers and professionals a comprehensive display of Canon’s business offerings in a “non-selling” environment. Buyers and end users will be able to understand the use and application of various Canon business imaging products here.

Kensaku Konishi, President and CEO, Canon India and Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice President Canon India inaugurated the showroom. Konishi on the occasion said, “Canon’s BIS solutions lounge is a unique first of its kind concept in India serving as a guide for the large corporates as well as SME and SOHO segments by providing a ‘before you buy’ experience and information. With this initiative we aim to capitalize on the high growth in the economy to enhance our brand awareness and win over more informed customers, thus showcasing our long term commitment to the market.” Bharadwaj added, “By visiting the lounge, the customer can not only obtain first hand information on latest products to be able to make an informed choice of purchase, but is also not under any commitment to purchase.” He also announced they were going to launch similar B2B centres in Mumbai and Bangalore in the next three months. The sales force has been empowered to bring in customers at any time convenient to them from Monday to Saturday. Bharadwaj also said they did not expect walk-ins for the showroom but want planned demos and appointments.

The showroom has a display of over 15 products -- copiers, laser multifunctional devices, faxes, document scanners, large format graphic machines and scan solutions. However the main attraction at the showroom is Canon’s digital colour press (Imagepress C7000 VP), recently launched at the Ipex South Asia and already installed at almost a dozen customer sites.