Retail giant Staples and XYZPrinting announced a deal in which da Vinci 3D printers and accessories would be available at Staples online store.
In fact, the entire line of da Vinci equipment will be featured, which includes the very low-cost Junior 1.0 at USD$349 and their AiO 3D scanner and printer at USD$800. Also featured will be a full selection of XYZPrinting’s plastic filament cartridges, which are required to operate the 3D printers.
XYZPrinting is not the first 3D printer line to be featured on Staples’ site. Previously, 3D Systems, MakerBot and others were picked up by the retail giant. Currently, the list of 3D printers available (at least at the US-focused Staples online store) include:
- 3D Systems
- Afinia
- Flashforge
- Leapfrog
- MakerBot
- Robox
- XYZPrinting
We find this list interesting because it provides some insight into the manufacturers. In order to properly participate in a deal with Staples, manufacturers must guarantee the ability to produce larger quantities of units, should demand pick up. This can easily happen on a widely-used online store such as Staples.
Thus, the only participants we should see in Staples are 3D printer manufacturers that can “deliver”. The list makes sense to us: all of these manufacturers are well-established long-time players or have overseas manufacturing partners that have significant factories capable of building many units.
This is not to say that the members of this list are the ONLY large-scale 3D printer manufacturers; it’s just that you won’t see the smaller players here, particularly those startups that you might see on Indiegogo or Kickstarter.
We may see others join the Staples shelves, and in particular we’re wondering about Ultimaker, perhaps the largest manufacturer NOT appearing on Staples store.
Via PRNewswire
