I received the notification last week about the Katun press conference, though I had no idea what the press release was for. Throughout my 40-plus-year career, I’ve always known Katun as a reputable supplier of parts and supplies for our industry.
About six to eight weeks ago, Kay Fernandez sent me a private message letting me know she had registered on our site as a member. Kay resigned from Konica Minolta this spring and has since joined Katun as the Vice President of Global Marketing.
Last week also brought the announcement that Fujifilm has officially entered the U.S. market through Marco. Did I miss all the signs leading up to Katun releasing their own line of A3 MFPs? As it turns out, the product launch is for eleven A3 MFPs—five monochrome and six color. The press release also mentioned this as their "initial" launch, suggesting more MFPs could be on the way. Will it be production devices, A4 models, or both? Time will tell.
The Questions
I have many questions and would love for Katun to help me understand why the U.S. copier market needs another dealer.
- Why introduce new devices in a market already saturated with OEMs and declining page volumes?
- Are the devices manufactured by Fujifilm? (They certainly look like it.)
- Will Katun sell these directly to office equipment dealers, or will they go through a wholesaler like Xerox does?
- If they sell directly to dealers, will there be a quota involved?
- Will dealers need to become authorized for sales, service, and support for the Arivia brand?
The History
Remember Muratec? About five years ago, Konica Minolta acquired them, which made sense as Muratec had been reselling KM MFPs and a line of label printers. Muratec was the last reseller of MFPs that didn’t require dealers to meet quotas for machines or supplies. This meant someone like me could start a dealership with minimal capital, avoiding the massive investments required by Canon, Xerox, Ricoh, or KM.
Small dealerships have always been the catalyst for growth, with many expanding into larger operations. That’s why I appreciate Katun offering entrepreneurs the opportunity to start their own business with a modest investment.
The Box
Who is the OEM? It looks to me like Fujifilm is the OEM. It wouldn’t make sense for Xerox to offer another line of distribution. Just last week, Fujifilm announced their partnership with Marco. What surprised me about that deal was that Marco didn’t private-label the Fujifilm devices—I thought that would have been a brilliant move for their branding, given their national footprint.
When I first heard a few years ago that Fujifilm was planning to enter the U.S. market, I suggested one of the mega dealers secure a private-label deal with them. Major players like RJ Young, Pacific Automation, Marco, or UBEO could have launched their own brand, much like Katun just did. It seems the mega dealers missed that opportunity, but Katun didn't.
Katun, if you're reading this, Greg Walters and I would love to have you on our "Ask Us Anything" show. It would be a fantastic way to answer the many questions dealers and industry professionals have.
-=Good Selling=-