Fuji-Xerox preps assault on low-end printer market

Fuji-Xerox's printers division, whose A3 multifunction printers have long been associated with mid-market and enterprise, has announced preparations for a full-scale assault on the low-end market for the first time.

The vendor planned to sign up 100 to 150 resellers to sell a new range of consumer and small business products in November, said David Borg, general manager of Fuji Xerox Printers.

"We're going down into a very consumer, prosumer-oriented product. That will require us to work with a whole different type of channel partner," Borg said.

Signs Dynamic Supplies 

Fuji-Xerox has signed a second distributor, Dynamic Supplies, to assist in its search for new resellers.

Dynamic Supplies was chosen for several reasons, said Borg. The distributor was popular with resellers in the office stationery channel that requested to buy Fuji-Xerox through Dynamic Supplies.

"They have a very good logistics and delivery structure. They can deliver anywhere in Australia overnight and they offer really good service to those customers," Borg said.

The distributor also had a strong customer base among regional resellers, which complemented Fuji-Xerox's focus on metropolitan areas, Borg added.

"[Dynamic Supplies had] a lot of geographic coverage that other distributors just don't touch," Borg said. 

Impact on channel

Borg said that the vendor's newer resellers would not target the same market as Fuji-Xerox's existing mid-market and enterprise resellers, although some increased competition was inevitable.

"There's no doubt that when you expand your channel there is an element of dilution. But in most cases most of these resellers we have never done business with before. There's a very strong regional mix and up until this point our business has been very metro based.

"The majority of business we do will be new [but] I don't doubt there will be business that will be contested by the existing channel," Borg said.

New models, new structure

Vendors such as Brother and Samsung have made inroads to the consumer and small business segment with cut-price models.

Fuji-Xerox has had a minor presence in these markets for the past three years. However, Borg said Fuji-Xerox would attempt to win customers through new technology rather than dropping prices.

Borg hinted that Fuji-Xerox's November range would centre around low-cost laser printers, but would not elaborate further.

"We are going to be launching some products and some fantastic tools to take some more market share. In the future there will be very little reason to buy an inkjet," Borg said.

Fuji-Xerox has segmented itself into three silos targeting low-end volume, SMB and enterprise to support its expanded product range.