Long Beach, CA, October 27, 2009

Today Epson, a leading supplier of value-added Point of Sale (POS) solutions, announced that it will deliver a series of new thermal printers to expand its portfolio of transaction printers. These new printers are designed to meet the needs of smaller retailers and food service operators while providing expanded functionality to its traditional, larger retailer customer base. Over the next two quarters, Epson will introduce three new products—a compact, thermal printer with all-front access for use in specialty POS solutions and kiosk applications, an all-inclusive packaged thermal printer for small retail and food service applications, and a-next generation thermal printer designed for customers who require full-featured printing functionality. With the addition of these new products to Epson’s existing thermal printer family, the company will offer the most comprehensive line of single-station thermal POS printers to satisfy the needs of every segment of the retail industry at every price point.

"Regardless of economic conditions, we continue to invest in products that support all segments of the retail market. We remain strongly committed to listening to and supporting our current customers and resellers, and we will continue to deliver the robust, full-featured products they expect from Epson," said Keith Kratzberg, Sr. Vice President, Commercial Sales and Marketing for Epson America. "Our long-term growth strategy is to deliver the same high quality, reliable products to small, medium and large retailers."

In a 2009 brand awareness study, 78% of resellers stated that Epson’s range and variety of POS printers offer them a sales advantage when selling to retailers.¹

"Resellers are extremely important to our success. We listened to the feedback throughout the channel, and we designed new products to meet market demands. Whether the customer needs a simple plug-and-play printer or a highly-configurable printer for use across a large retail enterprise, our partners will have an Epson solution," commented Kratzberg. "This new lineup of products will generate new revenue streams for our channel partners, and help them cultivate and grow their businesses."

According to the IHL 2009 North American Retail Point-of-Sale Printers market study, Epson is the leading thermal printer brand, holding a dominant 41% share of the thermal printer POS installed base. The study forecasts an estimated 58% increase in demand for thermal printers through 2012 with the majority of growth expected to come from small to medium-sized retailers. In addition to maintaining its focus on large retailers, Epson’s objective is to capture a dominant share of the growing small-to-medium-sized thermal market by offering an expanded thermal printer lineup designed to fill gaps not met by current competitive offerings.

About Epson
Epson is one of the world's leading manufacturers of highly reliable point-of-service technology, including printers, precision printing mechanisms and digital image scanners. For the fourth year in a row (2006-2009), retailers have ranked Epson first in POS peripherals in the RIS News "Hardware LeaderBoard." Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Long Beach, CA, Epson America, Inc. is the U.S. affiliate of Japan-based Seiko Epson Corporation, a global manufacturer and supplier of high-quality technology products that meet customer demands for increased functionality, compactness, systems integration and energy efficiency. The Seiko Epson organization is proud of its ongoing contributions to the global environment and for the second year in a row is part of the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, an indicator for leading companies in economic, environmental and social criteria. For more information, please visit pos.epson.com.

¹Litchfield Brand Awareness Study, March 2009.

Epson is a registered trademark of Seiko Epson Corporation. All other trademarks and/or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.