This article first appeared in Print in the Channel magazine issue #39.
The Fujifilm Partner Conference recently took place and emphasised the company’s commitment to the European market and growing its market share in the coming years – which it is backing up with the launch of new devices.
It has been a busy couple of years for Fujifilm since it began its expansion into major European markets, with the launch of its Apeos range of multifunction printers and more. The successes since then were celebrated – along with a look towards the future for Fujifilm in Europe – at the Fujifilm Partner Conference, held in Vienna, Austria, on 8-9 June.
For Gary Organ, head of sales – device technology (office) for Fujifilm UK, the biggest highlight of the Fujifilm Partner Conference was the volume of partners in attendance at the event. “It was overwhelming, the number of partners that we had at the event from across the whole of Europe,” he says. “Fujifilm has expanded through Europe recently, but to have partners from our office and our production business come together was great. There was much more of an even split than we’ve had in previous years because of the growth of the office business, which was really nice.
“On top of that, we were in a fantastic venue in a fantastic location and had really good content covered from beginning to the end for our partner delegates. We had the privilege of hosting our senior managing director from Fujifilm Business Innovation, Naoki Hama, and a number of senior delegates from Tokyo to come and talk about different aspects of the technology and the vision for the future, and show that we have an intent to be here long-term, and that message was put across to the partners loud and clear.
“We also had two product launches, on the production side of the business, we had the introduction of the Revoria PC2120 with the new green toner, which allows them to do 93% of RGB colours. From the office perspective, it was a pivotal day because it was the first time we’ve upgraded the machines since launching. For us to introduce the new 61 Series, which supersedes the C60 Series, and the new C3567 series, which will be available from September, were key highlights.”
Gary adds that there was a technology showcase that allowed partners to see the technology hands-on, and several of Fujifilm’s third-party partners such as MyQ, Ysoft and Elatec were exhibiting how their technology works with the devices.
“We also had third-party speakers, talking about different aspects from psychology around the way people make decisions, through to the person who does creative work for Fujifilm’s Born Ready and This Changes Everything print campaigns for production, talking about the process that he goes through for designing for more advanced colours,” Gary adds. “It was an interesting couple of days for all parties.”
Market development
This shows how far Fujifilm has come. It is now more than two years since the initial launch of the Apeos range of printers into the UK and European markets. Gary notes the first six months were about testing business processes, but since then they have been onboarding partners. “That’s been going well,” he says. “We’ve got a very stable foundation of partners now, which we will continue to build upon and are actively recruiting now.
“We’re up to 17 resellers now. We are a channel-only business and our transactional model isn’t open distribution like other vendors, it is a selective distribution process, which means that the contract is directly between the partner and us. This puts value into our accreditation programme and our partners.”
Gary adds that there has been widespread interest in Fujifilm’s devices, with the resellers signed up covering the country. “The feedback has been really positive about the technology,” he adds. “Obviously, it’s established technology from Fujifilm, but people haven’t seen it in Europe before. So once people get up to speed with the devices confidence grows very quickly.
“Our onboarding process has sped up significantly since we started as well. We have built out our team to support the channel.”
Gary adds that Fujifilm is still onboarding new partners and looking to expand in the coming months. “Typically, we’re looking for partners that do their own service because that’s the model that tends to work best, but we do have a service offering through some independent service providers that can provide service to partners as well,” he says.
“Once people are aware of the history of the company – 60-plus years of technology development through the FujiXerox business in Asia Pacific – and the strength of the technology, the momentum grows very quickly. Typically, once we have our first couple of meetings with a partner around onboarding and they understand more about Fujifilm interest spikes very quickly. It’s just that awareness piece at the beginning that’s different compared to some of the more traditional vendors.
“Our job is to grow that brand awareness as well, which we’re doing through the marketing function on the office and production commercial print side.” Gary adds that the campaigns for both sides are bespoke to the needs of the markets.
“We’ve done extremely well since launching in the commercial print space and we continue to grow due to the technology we have in the devices. We’ve got unique technology in that market. We’ve launched a brand called SuperColor under the banner of our production business, and that’s focused on the new 5- and 6-colour presses that we brought out into the market.
“Some of the toner technology is unique in that market and is generating a lot of demand.”
Launches
This includes the newly launched green toner and 93% colour match, which gives Fujifilm an edge over the competition. “But again, it’s about getting that message out to as many customers as possible,” says Gary. “We are working with our partners to drive that message out to the end users.”
Meanwhile, as mentioned on the office side, the first upgrades to the Apeos range since its initial launch have been unveiled. “There’s been a variety of upgrades on the devices,” says Gary. “They are 10% lighter and have reduced the use of virgin plastics in the manufacturing process. We’ve also used more reused materials.
“We also continue to build on the security features that we previously had. The benefit with our technology is it was already extremely robust, secure and sustainable in line with the values of Fujifilm. One of the many reasons why we are the leader in the Asia Pacific market in the A3 colour market.”
Gary adds that the launch is significant as the series fills a gap in its range. “Our 60 series was our entry-level A3 device, then we had our main A3 range, the 70 series, and there was a bit of a gap between the two. The new 67 series has taken some of the features of that 70 Series and advanced them further but also taking the footprint down into a smaller chassis. It’s a hybrid of the two and sits in the gap between them and is something some other vendors don’t offer, meaning that our partners have even more opportunities to sell.”
Changing market
Gary adds that the additions to the range are important in a changing market, where some customers are consolidating the number of devices they have, while others are expanding, or have specific criteria for what they want in a device, such as the speed of printing. “There are various trends in the market currently,” he adds. “There isn’t a one-size-fits-all in an end user landscape anymore. Having those three ranges gives us more flexibility in our offering to customers.”
Gary adds that print volumes are increasing too, which is helping the market. “There are certain sectors that are printing more than others,” he says. “The shift to digitisation in COVID has happened very quickly and now some people have begun to realise the importance of print again. We’ve had some interesting conversations in markets such as education where they’re talking about the needs for still running print parallel to digital processes because of student learning and information retention being higher in paper-related learning.
“The reality is that there isn’t a consistent methodology anymore. You speak to one organisation and everybody can be in the office and speak to the next one and everyone works remotely, and then others are somewhere in the middle. There’s flexibility with that, but it’s about having the tools and technology to be able to adapt whatever the circumstances are. That’s what our strapline of ‘Born Ready’ is about; technology that is ready for existing and future requirements.
“We already have the security features needed and we are sustainable and continue to develop the sustainability side. The technology is always developing with functions like ScanAuto, which gives users an intelligent scanning function on the Apeos printers that automates document settings.”
Gary adds that sustainability is becoming an increasing priority for many businesses. “We’ve put a lot of things in place to support that,” he says. “It’s a key part of our core values. We have an exceptional recycling rate in the Asia Pacific region and it something we are growing in Europe. For instance, we’ve put a process in place for toner recycling for our partners in the UK now, which enables them to have used toners, cartridges, drums, etc., collected and sent back to a purpose-built facility in Tilburg. Once demand gets to a certain level, we’ll start using the used parts to regenerate genuine remanufactured parts, which that facility has the capability to do.”
Future
Following the conference, Gary is looking forward with confidence. The aim for Fujifilm in the UK is to continue to accelerate its sales growth. “At our conference, we shared with our partners our ambition for exponential growth and the fact that we are not going anywhere, our intention is to be one of the long-standing manufacturers in this industry,” he says. “We are a partner that will continue to invest in research and development, and with that will come with future technology.”
He adds that in the next 12 to 18 months, it is expected that there’ll be further advancements in the portfolio. “Our ambition is to solidify what we do, to become more effective in what we do, and in the channel we want to build on the number of partners we work with and continue to grow and add value to our partner community. Our ambitions are significant over the next few years in terms of growth.”
