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18
COVER STORY
Ricoh is the fastest growing printer
company in the UK and Europe. It has
only been selling printers through
the channel for eight years, but it is
already No 4 in colour lasers and No
6 overall.
Now, Ricoh plans to build on that
platform by raising awareness of its
printers amongst corporates and public
sector organisations. To this end, it has
launched a new reseller support portal and
overhauled its channel structure to attract
more corporate resellers, while continuing
to promote the Ricoh brand through its
Discover Ricoh campaign.
Tried and tested
For IT resellers and their customers, Ricoh
printers are an obvious choice. With a 25%
share of the MFP market and a 51% share
in production print, Ricoh has extensive
knowledge of the requirements of public
and private sector organisations, from low
running costs and reliability to ease of use
and productivity.
The insight that Ricoh has gained from
manufacturing, selling and servicing MFPs
has shaped its printer range. Robust design
and long-lasting components, low TEC
ratings and high capacity consumables,
intuitive interfaces and easy connectivity
– all reflect Ricoh’s experience in the B2B
market and underline its printers’ suitability
for the most demanding users.
Ricoh Pledge
No doubt, other manufacturers make
similar claims about their devices, but Ricoh
is in the enviable position of being able to
back up its assertions with hard facts.
Last year, as part of a strategy to raise
awareness of its printer range and to
demonstrate the confidence it has in its
products, Ricoh launched the Ricoh Pledge.
Now extended for another year, this
gives any buyer of a mid-range Ricoh
printer who isn’t completely satisfied with
the product, the opportunity to get their
money back within 30 days of purchase.
Ricoh makes this incredibly easy to do: the
customer just has to tell Ricoh they aren’t
happy and it will arrange collection from
the customer’s premises and refund the
money in full.
Since the Ricoh Pledge was introduced
nine months ago, less than 0.5% of
customers have taken Ricoh up on its offer
and asked for their money back – and
some of these only did so because they
bought the wrong type of machine in the
first place i.e. buying a printer when they
wanted a fax.
99% Incentive
To celebrate such high customer
satisfaction levels, Ricoh has launched a
new end user promotion for this quarter –
the 99% incentive.
Giving businesses and consumers yet
another reason to buy its printers, every
month until the end of September Ricoh
is randomly selecting 33 newly registered
customers and reimbursing them the cost
of their printer.
Sales support portal
As well as generating interest for resellers
through its Discover Ricoh campaign
and associated promotions like the 99%
incentive, Ricoh is enhancing its channel
support.
One of the most important
developments, according to Steven
Hastings, Ricoh IT Distribution Channel
Director, Indirect Sales, is the launch of a
Discover Ricoh
– online and in person
Ricoh launches new sales support portal and opens up
MFP sales to the printer channel as it aims to increase its
penetration of corporates and the public sector.
We need to
make sure
that our
products are
as visible and
as accessible
as they
possibly can
be
brand new sales support portal attached
to the Ricoh Print and AV blog (www.
ricohprintersandav.uk).
“This tells IT resellers, AV resellers and
corporate resellers everything they need to
know about our products: what they are;
what the incentives are; where they can
get them from; and the best way to access
my team,” he said.
Hastings added that the need for a
single portal offering access to all the
information a reseller might need became
critical after Ricoh significantly increased its
online and social media marketing activities.
“We have really upped our social
media presence in the last couple of
years, but I don’t think either end users
or resellers want one URL to collect
cash back, another URL to learn about a
different incentive and yet another URL
for warranties. Instead, we want to have
once central point where customers can
find details on products and incentives and
where resellers can access a channel-only
sales support portal providing access
to marketing collateral, details of our
distributors, news of what we are up to
and links to support staff,” he said.
The dedicated resource includes
information on printers, AV products and
specific MFPs that are available to the
printer channel.
Two-tier structure
The launch of the portal coincides with
Ricoh’s decision to simplify its accredited
reseller structure and move from three tiers
to two – Accredited Reseller and Reseller
Plus.
QUALITY PLEDGE
Steven Hastings,
Ricoh IT
Distribution
Channel Director,
Indirect Sales
