Lincoln Financial Field, home to the Philadelphia Eagles, played host to 74 dealers on Feb. 9—a mere three days before Super Bowl LVII between the Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs—as Ricoh embarked on the second of three regional dealer events.
The day-long platform—which included a tour of the field, interview area, locker room and the Linc’s press box—was emceed by Jim Coriddi, senior vice president, dealer division for Ricoh USA. Carsten Bruhn, president and CEO of Ricoh North America, delivered a state-of-the-company address to the crowd of 126 representing Ricoh Family Group dealers and industry press primarily from the Northeast and Midwest.
Coriddi noted that the program curriculum was devised in tandem with the National Dealer Council, with the intent of answering many of the questions revolving around the “silver bullets” that can enable dealers to garner more market share within their accounts. The key, he believes, is expanding the resellers’ roles.
“You’ve long been a trusted print provider,” Coriddi told the audience. “Now we need to work together for new, relevant solutions to help customers better manage their business.”
The event’s American football theme was somewhat lost on the Danish-born Bruhn, whose allegiances lie with London’s Chelsea, which he termed “proper football” (truthfully, there were more frustrated New York Giants fans among the attendees, anyway). From a business perspective, he discussed market conditions—including the lingering uncertainty from elections, the COVID hangover and talk of a recession. With supply chain and inventory restrictions slowly dissipating, he underscored the need for tighter partnerships.
From a fiscal standpoint, 2022 represented a banner year for Ricoh, according to Bruhn, as sales revenue increased nearly 20%, with operating profits climbing 51% year over year. Office solutions also posted double-digital growth.
Changing Buyers
The changing buyer behaviors of customers, particularly among the millennial demographic, underscores the need to craft an omnichannel customer experience. Bruhn pointed to data that shows 80% of millennials are more apt to do product and technology research prior to reaching out to resellers. As such, there is a need to “integrate sales, marketing, customer experience, customer success and support capabilities to furnish a more seamless go-to-market model with intelligent and harmonized touch points.”
Bruhn then outlined Ricoh’s four-pronged “North Star” model to help focus on delivering customer-centric value that consists of being customer-centric (focusing on high-value industries), relevant value proposition (developed through listening to customers), organizational agility (constantly responding to the market) and a culture of excellence (the key to building a sustainable future).
Coriddi then took the floor to discuss Ricoh’s proud marketing standing as the No. 1 A3 office color laser provider, citing IDC findings for Q3 2022, and No. 2 position behind Canon among the A3 black-and-white laser space. Preliminary results have Ricoh second in total A3 MFP placements and color A3 MFP placements for calendar year 2022.
However, A4 is a different story that sees Ricoh playing catch-up with the OEM pack. The company is strong in the mid-range A4 segment, and unveiled work-from-home models in 2022. Coriddi is confident his company can close that gap by virtue of nine new models that will be rolled out over the next 18 months.
Entry-level color production is another strong suit, where it ranks first in placements, per Keypoint Intelligence. Ricoh enjoyed nearly 10% year-over-year growth. Dealer production revenue for FY 2022 soared 124% in hardware, 136% in aftermarket and 144% in software in comparison to the FY 2019 prep-pandemic performance.
Unprecedented Growth
Meanwhile, Ricoh’s DocuWare document management software and workflow automation subsidiary enjoyed explosive growth, to the tune of 215% year over year. The Eagles franchise, aside from being a Ricoh partner and customer, is a DocuWare client and a significant success story, having automated its accounts payable department.
Coriddi also provided an inventory update that showed a lion’s share of the models being in-stock with normal processing times. Only five A3 color and black-and-white SKUs carry a lead time in the 10-12-week range. Some A4 black-and-white and color models will have delays of four to six months, although a number of them are in-stock with normal processing times.
Following lunch, the audience was broken into three groups, which took part in a series of three Think Tank presentations: New Trends and Customer Opportunities; Technology Opportunities: Production and Office; and Annuity and New Revenue with Software and Services. The 75-minute segments were designed to engage the audience in give-and-take exchanges to share their experiences with Ricoh executives and fellow dealers.
The day’s business activities were capped by a Ricoh executive leadership panel and audience Q&A, followed by the stadium tour. Ricoh’s next regional dealer meeting is slated for March 9 in Austin, Texas. A larger national gathering is on tap for the fall, with details to be announced.
