{"id":11347,"date":"2015-02-19T09:04:44","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T17:04:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=11347"},"modified":"2016-09-15T10:00:23","modified_gmt":"2016-09-15T17:00:23","slug":"more-diversification-strategies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/the-week-in-imaging-twii\/2015\/02\/more-diversification-strategies\/","title":{"rendered":"More Diversification Strategies"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lexmark

Lexmark MX510 Series<\/p><\/div>\n

This month in ENX<\/em> magazine the main feature is \u201cDiversification: A Necessary Business Strategy in a Changing Document Imaging Marketplace<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article identifies a handful of diversification strategies that various dealers around the country are pursuing. Because of space limitations we weren\u2019t able to include all of the diversification strategies we originally intended within that article. Instead, we are presenting a few additional diversification strategies here as an addendum to that article. You probably won\u2019t discover anything all that new and exciting here or in the ENX magazine article, but just seeing how some dealers are still doing well within these product or services segment should provide validation for these diversification opportunities.\u00a0 dealers.<\/p>\n

Label Printers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Companies such as OKI Data, Epson, Toshiba, and Konica Minolta are touting these devices, which represent another diversification strategy for the document imaging dealer. During a press Q&A at the recent Konica Minolta dealer meeting, when asked if they viewed label printing and packaging as a growth area similar to wide format, Kevin Kern, senior vice president marketing, reports the company absolutely believes there\u2019s a market for these devices based on how rapidly the industrial market is revising their labels and packaging for different promotions or package sizes. \u201cRun lengths are changing and the technology is changing and there are many gaps in the marketplace,\u201d states Kern. \u201cThere are lots of niches and openings in those marketplaces and its going to become even more important.\u201d<\/p>\n

With more products being sold online, this is also creating opportunities as businesses look to get their products to stand out in a crowded digital market. That\u2019s where label printers for short run applications are likely to have a big impact. \u00a0\u201cWe see a big opportunity in industrial print in general\u2014that\u2019s a big market\u2014there\u2019s probably 30 or 40 segments of that market we\u2019re looking at,\u201d says Kern.<\/p>\n

Wide-Format<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wide-format products may not seem much of a stretch when it comes to diversifying, but the reality is not every dealer is selling that technology. Chip Miceli, president of DPOE in Elk Grove Village, IL, considers wide format a credible diversification opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there\u2019s an opportunity for our industry now it\u2019s large format,\u201d he opines. \u201cThat\u2019s the next big thing. HP has a product for the BTA channel and I have a meeting this week with Epson who has a product they\u2019re introducing for the BTA channel. I think their timing is right. More people are going in house for large format and that\u2019s recurring revenue. That\u2019s what we live on and what we built our businesses on and as people print less we need something to replace that.\u201d<\/p>\n

A4 is A-OK<\/strong><\/p>\n

Another diversification opportunity, albeit one not far removed from the traditional A3 opportunity is A4. To be honest, one might argue that selling A4 isn\u2019t much of a diversification strategy at all since most dealers are doing it whether they like it or not. Still, for those dealers who aren\u2019t convinced about A4, we\u2019re going to include it anyway.<\/p>\n

For DPOE A4 is doing A-OK. \u201cWe sell a lot of Kyocera A4 and Sharp A4,\u201d reports Miceli. \u201cBelieve it or not, the OKI product they made with Toshiba has been very successful all of a sudden. That\u2019s attracted a lot of attention and we\u2019re moving a lot of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

A4 currently represents about 35 percent of DPOE\u2019s business. It\u2019s a product category that Miceli feels he had no choice but to embrace. \u201cA3 was going to go away anyway because HP is replacing their printers with A4 product so why don\u2019t we do that?\u201d<\/p>\n

At Stargel Office Solutions in Houston the A4 business is on the rise, according to TJ DeBello, vice president of sales and marketing . \u201cWe just had a meeting with Lexmark and had over 150 percent growth with them last year.\u201d<\/p>\n

He expects this to become a bigger part of Stargel\u2019s product offerings, growing from its current 5-8 percent to 15-20 percent of Stargel\u2019s overall business during the next four years.<\/p>\n

3D Scanners<\/strong><\/p>\n

A product category related to 3D printing is 3D scanners. Fraser-AIS in West Reading, PA has been focusing on 3D printers for a couple of years now. At press time Fraser-AIS just started carrying the Geomagic 3D scanner. The dealership plans to target the same customers they target with 3D printing.\u00a0 The product is mostly designed for reverse engineering and scan-based design applications as well as \u00a0businesses doing prototyping and developing content. Daniel Fraser, new business development technology for Fraser-AIS, doesn\u2019t expect this technology to be a money maker just yet. \u201cThe margins are awful, but it\u2019s a good product for us to sell. Customers may be interested and before you know it we\u2019re proposing a scanner and 3D printer bundled together. It\u2019s just another way for us to get creative with packaging and pricing.\u201d<\/p>\n

High-Speed<\/strong> Scanners<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since we\u2019re discussing scanners, another area that\u2019s picking up steam at DPOE is high-speed scanners. \u201cThat\u2019s something else that fell into our lap,\u201d says Miceli. \u201cWe dabbled in it before, servicing them, but now more people are coming to us wanting to buy. That\u2019s recurring revenue with a yearly maintenance contract. At one time you sold them for a couple hundred bucks, now we\u2019re selling them for $8,000-$9,000 because people are scanning more for archiving.\u201d<\/p>\n

DPOE carries Canon and Fujitsu scanners although the majority of sales are Canon due in large part to name recognition, according to Miceli.<\/p>\n

Telephone Systems<\/strong><\/p>\n

Even though it\u2019s low on the list of diversification opportunities, don\u2019t hang up on telephone systems just yet. Even though it\u2019s not a significant part of DPOE\u2019s business, love it or leave it, it\u2019s still a part of it even if its sales strategy is a passive one. \u201cWe don\u2019t try and find an opportunity, it usually just falls into our lap,\u201d notes Miceli. \u201cAnd because of our IT business more people are asking us to handle their phones too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite his lack of enthusiasm about selling telephone systems, he can\u2019t cut the cord. Like Michael Corleone from the Godfather<\/em> movies every time he thinks he\u2019s out, his sales reps pull him back in with another sale.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This month in ENX magazine the main feature is \u201cDiversification: A Necessary Business Strategy in a Changing Document Imaging Marketplace.\u201d The article identifies a handful of diversification strategies that various dealers around the country are pursuing. Because of space limitations we weren\u2019t able to include all of the diversification strategies we originally intended within that article. Instead, we are presenting a few additional diversification strategies here as an addendum to that article. You probably won\u2019t discover anything all that new and exciting here or in the ENX magazine article, but just seeing how some dealers are still doing well within these product or services segment should provide validation for these diversification opportunities.\u00a0 dealers. Label Printers Companies such as OKI Data, Epson, Toshiba, and Konica Minolta are touting these devices, which represent another diversification strategy for the document imaging dealer. During a press Q&A at the recent Konica Minolta dealer meeting, when asked if they viewed label printing and packaging as a growth area similar to wide format, Kevin Kern, senior vice president marketing, reports the company absolutely believes there\u2019s a market for these devices based on how rapidly the industrial market is revising their labels and packaging for different promotions or package sizes. \u201cRun lengths are changing and the technology is changing and there are many gaps in the marketplace,\u201d states Kern. \u201cThere are lots of niches and openings in those marketplaces and its going to become even more important.\u201d With more products being sold online, this is also creating opportunities as businesses look to get their products to stand out in a crowded digital market. That\u2019s where label printers for short run applications are likely to have a big impact. \u00a0\u201cWe see a big opportunity in industrial print in general\u2014that\u2019s a big market\u2014there\u2019s probably 30 or 40 segments of that market we\u2019re looking at,\u201d says Kern. Wide-Format Wide-format products may not seem much of a stretch when it comes to diversifying, but the reality is not every dealer is selling that technology. Chip Miceli, president of DPOE in Elk Grove Village, IL, considers wide format a credible diversification opportunity. \u201cIf there\u2019s an opportunity for our industry now it\u2019s large format,\u201d he opines. \u201cThat\u2019s the next big thing. HP has a product for the BTA channel and I have a meeting this week with Epson who has a product they\u2019re introducing for the BTA channel. I think their timing is right. More people are going in house for large format and that\u2019s recurring revenue. That\u2019s what we live on and what we built our businesses on and as people print less we need something to replace that.\u201d A4 is A-OK Another diversification opportunity, albeit one not far removed from the traditional A3 opportunity is A4. To be honest, one might argue that selling A4 isn\u2019t much of a diversification strategy at all since most dealers are doing it whether they like it or not. Still, for those dealers who aren\u2019t convinced about A4, we\u2019re going to include it anyway. For DPOE A4 is doing A-OK. \u201cWe sell a lot of Kyocera A4 and Sharp A4,\u201d reports Miceli. \u201cBelieve it or not, the OKI product they made with Toshiba has been very successful all of a sudden. That\u2019s attracted a lot of attention and we\u2019re moving a lot of those.\u201d A4 currently represents about 35 percent of DPOE\u2019s business. It\u2019s a product category that Miceli feels he had no choice but to embrace. \u201cA3 was going to go away anyway because HP is replacing their printers with A4 product so why don\u2019t we do that?\u201d At Stargel Office Solutions in Houston the A4 business is on the rise, according to TJ DeBello, vice president of sales and marketing . \u201cWe just had a meeting with Lexmark and had over 150 percent growth with them last year.\u201d He expects this to become a bigger part of Stargel\u2019s product offerings, growing from its current 5-8 percent to 15-20 percent of Stargel\u2019s overall business during the next four years. 3D Scanners A product category related to 3D printing is 3D scanners. Fraser-AIS in West Reading, PA has been focusing on 3D printers for a couple of years now. At press time Fraser-AIS just started carrying the Geomagic 3D scanner. The dealership plans to target the same customers they target with 3D printing.\u00a0 The product is mostly designed for reverse engineering and scan-based design applications as well as \u00a0businesses doing prototyping and developing content. Daniel Fraser, new business development technology for Fraser-AIS, doesn\u2019t expect this technology to be a money maker just yet. \u201cThe margins are awful, but it\u2019s a good product for us to sell. Customers may be interested and before you know it we\u2019re proposing a scanner and 3D printer bundled together. It\u2019s just another way for us to get creative with packaging and pricing.\u201d High-Speed Scanners Since we\u2019re discussing scanners, another area that\u2019s picking up steam at DPOE is high-speed scanners. \u201cThat\u2019s something else that fell into our lap,\u201d says Miceli. \u201cWe dabbled in it before, servicing them, but now more people are coming to us wanting to buy. That\u2019s recurring revenue with a yearly maintenance contract. At one time you sold them for a couple hundred bucks, now we\u2019re selling them for $8,000-$9,000 because people are scanning more for archiving.\u201d DPOE carries Canon and Fujitsu scanners although the majority of sales are Canon due in large part to name recognition, according to Miceli. Telephone Systems Even though it\u2019s low on the list of diversification opportunities, don\u2019t hang up on telephone systems just yet. Even though it\u2019s not a significant part of DPOE\u2019s business, love it or leave it, it\u2019s still a part of it even if its sales strategy is a passive one. \u201cWe don\u2019t try and find an opportunity, it usually just falls into our lap,\u201d notes Miceli. \u201cAnd because of our IT business more people are asking us to handle their phones too.\u201d Despite his lack of enthusiasm about selling telephone systems, he can\u2019t cut the cord. Like Michael […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11349,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1638],"tags":[2091,96,140,1195,174,191,2090,1480,2089,2070,358],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11347"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11347"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11395,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11347\/revisions\/11395"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}