Tokyo, Japan (March 8, 2016) Dai Nippon Printing, ‘DNP’ (7912.TYO), one of the world’s largest printing companies, and E Ink® Holdings, "E Ink" (8069.TW), the leading innovator of electronic ink technology in the world, today announced a strategic partnership to co-develop and co-market products using E Ink epaper. DNP will leverage its strong sales network in Japan to expand business by developing products targeted at the marketing and sales promotion segment of the retail market, and the security card and smartcard business for the financial and transportation market segments. E Ink will provide the epaper products along with the engineering support. The collaboration will focus on expanding these businesses in the Japanese and Southeast Asia market.
The partnership will focus specifically on developing two types of products. One product line will focus on incorporating E Ink Prism™ color changing film into retail promotion displays used by retailers for new product launches, in-store promotions and numerous marketing and merchandising activities. These retail displays will be more effective by bringing to life displays which today are typically static. E Ink products create value for customers because of characteristics of low power, easy visibility or readability, flexibility and ruggedness.
The other product line will focus on incorporating E Ink Mobius™ displays into NFC-enabled smartcards used by financial institutions for their customers. These products will take advantage of the ultra-low power, flexible and light weight of Mobius displays to provide the end customer value-added information or services. The low power consumption enables additional product functionality without the consumer having to worry about battery life.
“DNP has always focused on developing environmental friendly products that provide unique value to our customers. There are significant synergies between DNPs core technologies, such as surface processing, NFC, and retail displays, and E Ink’s low power color changing film and displays.” said Mr. Hikita, Information Solutions Operations managing director for DNP. “We believe this is a unique opportunity for DNP and E Ink to collaborate and bring to market a new set of products that will change the retail display market and bring greater value to our customers. We are very excited about our partnership with E Ink and the business potential this can lead to.”
“E Ink is extremely excited about the business prospects of this partnership with one of the leading printing companies in Japan and the world. We clearly share a common view of the type of new products that can be enabled by our cooperation on both the technical and business development areas.” said Naoki Sumita, president of E Ink Japan. “DNP has deep expertise and field resources in these areas. This provides E Ink with a unique opportunity to continue our diversification efforts into new markets and applications.”
The new retail and sales promotion products will be marketed by DNP and will incorporate E Ink’s color changing Prism product to more easily attract consumer attention and purchasing decision. Prism will be incorporated into DNP’s original POP product. Due to the low power nature of the Prism, and DNP’s design, the promotion products will be battery powered and can be placed anywhere in the store, just like the original paper product.
The product for financial institutions will incorporate Mobius flexible, low power active matrix displays into DNP’s NFC-based smartcard products. The demand for emoney and cashless services is increasing. There are increasing market and business opportunities for smartcard products that provide the consumer with additional information such as remaining balance, loyalty points, card status, and other possibilities. The low power means customers do not have to worry about battery life and it prolongs shelf life of the display.
The first public demonstration of products from the partnership will be shown in the DNP booth during RETAILTECH JAPAN, the largest and most influential trade show in Japan specializing in retail information systems. The products incorporate Prism into DNP’s retail displays. The show is at the Tokyo Big Sight (Tokyo International Exhibition Center), from March 8-11, in booth RT1206.
