RICOH CHOOSES CHANNEL FOR PRINTERS

[Anonymous]

Ricoh chooses channel for printers
Decision was made by Ricoh Asia Pacific.
Printer and copier specialist Ricoh has appointed its first two distributors in New Zealand for printers, IT Wholesale and Morning Star.Sales of Ricoh’s printers has up until now been through a direct sales model with six supporting branches nationwide.The company’s printer channel manager, Max Wong, says the decision was made by Ricoh Asia Pacific to increase the focus on printer sales to complement its already successful copier business.“The copying business has hit a bit of a slow down in growth, so it was decided to make our printer division a larger part of our business. Rather than chase down resellers, it was decided that it was easier to use distributors.”It became clear that to fulfil Ricoh’s long-term printer objectives, we needed to embark on a distribution partnership. This would enable us to achieve both greater market reach, as well as being manageable for our current internal systems and staff,” he says.Wong was appointed printer channel manager for Ricoh a year ago, having worked at Tech Pacific for six years.Victor Ho, group product manager for Morning Star says the company is delighted to have a printer brand on board.“I knew Max [Wong] from previous dealings, and with our range of notebooks and other products we are looking to complement each other.”Ho says Morning Star has previously sub-distributed printers through Ingram Micro, but has been looking for a printer brand to add to the stable.“We were missing a printer brand and this deal with Ricoh is important to us.”Wong says going through distribution partners is one way to drive the business and succeed in the New Zealand market.“From Ricoh’s perspective, the decision to partner with IT Wholesale and Morning Star was due to their ability to provide high levels of value added services to the reseller channel, while providing Ricoh with an unquestioned level of focus, market knowledge and resource,” Wong says.The Ricoh copier range will continue to be sold exclusively through the traditional direct sales force and copier channel.

[Author]

March 26, 2007 at 10:01 AM