Fujifilm entered the UK printer market earlier this year with its range of MFPs. Now, the company is looking to get established and bring more partners on board as it targets sales growth in 2025.
The past few years have been tough for the UK print channel, but it received a boost earlier in the year when a new name – to the UK at least – launched a range of new products.
Fujifilm – best known in the UK for camera film – launched its Apeos series of multifunction office printers (MFPs) in the UK in April.
The UK launch was part of a wider introduction into Western European markets for Fujifilm, including Italy, France and Spain over the course of 2024.
But while Fujifilm is a new name in Europe, it has a long-established reputation for quality printers elsewhere in the world. Fujifilm Business Innovation is the number one supplier of A3 MFPs in the Asia Pacific region, with Fujifilm technology powering millions of office printers across the globe.
“Many people in the channel know the heritage of Fuji Xerox and from doing the business more than six decades in APAC market,” says Hiro Matsui, Fujifilm UK manager. “Now it’s more time for us to make more noise to the end customer, to bring greater awareness of the Fujifilm office brand. Partners already know the product and the heritage. Now we are focusing on the end customer, awareness of the brand.”
Hiro is responsible for the business development in Europe. He first joined Fuji Xerox in 2007 and spent 13 years as a sales rep and has latterly been focused on global operations. “I moved from Tokyo to London one year ago, and I am now responsible for all the expansion of the business here in Europe,” he adds.
Partner model
Fujifilm has opted to go for a partner channel model for its sales in the UK. “This means there are no direct sales or service, it’s all through the partners, so they can maximise the opportunity to sell our products, and there is no conflict between us,” says Hiro. “We are engaging with the office print partner channel first, but as a second phase, we will expand to the IT value added seller channel once we have got the surface capability.
“We are developing a brand awareness campaign in the UK. And the leads or opportunities coming from this campaign will all to be passed to the partners. This might be different to other manufacturers that have awareness campaigns, where the leads or deal opportunities are first passed to the direct sales team, not to partners. This go-to-market approach is aligned not only the UK, but to countries in Europe too.
“While it’s a partner business in the UK, we have our dedicated technical team, so all the team’s effort will be to the partner, not directly to the customer, so the partner will have all the access to all the expertise and tech support as and when they need it.”
Raising awareness
As Hiro mentioned, Fujifilm is raising awareness of the brand and its products currently. Hiro says raising awareness will be done through specialist print magazines, which already have a route to an MFP or IT partner, as well as IT decision makers in end customers. Other channels, such as Google, are also being explored.
A lot of promotion will be through the print channel too, with reseller partners going out to customers and talking about the Fujifilm brand. A dedicated partner programme will also be coming soon to assist with this.
Sustainability credentials
One of Fujifilm’s strengths is its sustainability credentials. “This initiative has come from the top level of management level, of course,” says Hiro. “Sustainability is a passport to enter new countries now. Without this passport of sustainable products and production methods, along with recycling products and using sustainable elements, there’s no chance to enter new countries. It’s in the DNA of Fujifilm to have this approach. We can exactly show what our difference is in terms of sustainability through our use of technology and our production systems.”
Hiro adds that Fujifilm opened its circular manufacturing centre in the Netherlands in May. “It’s already started to develop and make a difference,” he says.
Agility
Another advantage that Fujifilm has is that it has a small team in the UK currently as it builds up, meaning that they don’t have the volume of overheads that competitors can do.
It also means Fujifilm can be agile in its strategies and responsive to market demands, as it doesn’t have the large corporate structures that others may do. “As we are the newcomers, we can think differently, such as with embedding sustainability into our proposition from the start,” says Hiro.
“It is a mature market in the UK, and it is aggressive with plenty of competition, but we can provide a difference.”
Indeed, it must be a complete package for Fujifilm to achieve its goals in the UK. It isn’t just about providing excellent products; price, service and sustainability must be part of the package.
“We have a clear story to tell the partner community as well as to the end customers,” says Hiro. “It is all about sustainability, security, quality, efficiency and utilising a software portfolio to help achieve this. That’s the story, which partners can tell the end customers when they are selling to them.”
Looking ahead
For 2025, Hiro says there are plans to expand Fujifilm’s European business, as well as growing in the countries that it has already launched in, including the UK. Hiro says the plan is for gradual expansion – not wanting to go too far, too fast.
This caution is understandable, as the print market faces issues in the UK – although as Hiro notes, many issues, such as declining print volumes, are common around the world. However, Hiro believes that the quality of print provided by the Apeos range, combined with its security and sustainability credentials, will ensure that Fujifilm will make meaningful inroads into the UK market.
“Every market is difficult, whether it’s Europe, Asia Pacific or the United States, but there are good reasons why we have a 25% market share in the APAC market. We have a strong proposition with our products,” he says.
Looking towards 2025, Hiro says he doesn’t expect print volumes to rise in the UK, but there will nevertheless be opportunities in the sector. “More employees are coming back to the office now, so we could recover some volume there,” he says. “But many people will continue to work from home. This means we need to think about the flexibility of the devices to cope with peaks and troughs in work. This is a challenge but also an opportunity for us to think differently.
“In other major Western European countries, the situation is almost the same as in the UK. But, for example, in Italy, their working style is more different because more smaller companies exist in Italy, and they still tend to go to the office and the print volume or the value against the print is higher than in the UK, for example.”
Key features of the Apeos series
The Apeos series of MFPs was launched earlier this year and has been designed to appeal to a wide range of customers with its work from anywhere capabilities, high level of security and sustainability credentials.
Key features include:
Quality
● Class leading print resolution of 1200x2400dpi
● IReCT, digital image adjustment technology, minimises colour mis-registration
● Versatile media handling capabilities with speed ranging from 20-70 pages per minute.
Security
● BLI Security validation (Keypoint Intelligence)
● Unauthorised user protection
● Robust data protection
● Protection against unauthorised access.
Usability/reliability
● Accelerated operations with no wait time
● Flexibility in office layout
● Seamless connectivity with mobile devices
● Easy navigation with simple UI and Attention Light
Sustainability
● Adopted IH fusing technologies that reduce energy consumption
● Equipped the LED printhead that enables energy saving design
●
eveloped Super EA-Eco toner that contribute to reduce power consumption achieved low-temperature fusing.
Supports digital transformation
● Work from anywhere/hybrid working capability
● Seamless integration promoting cloud connectivity
● Print with printing solution regardless time and location
● Advanced scanning functions supports digitalisation process with features including searchable OCR, automatic orientation of scanned page to upright position and correcting the skewed page or removing blank pages.
