Kyocera to launch channel credit card program

Printer vendor Kyocera is set to launch a Mastercard sales promotion which entitles reseller sales staff to earn credit on the card for each printer that they sell. The promotion - dubbed KyoCard Incentive Programme - would kick off on 1 July and is available to resellers that are seen to be actively selling Kyocera's range of printers.

Kyocera has struck an agreement with Westpac Bank and Mastercard and would commit $1 million per year to the promotion over the next five years, said David Finn, MD at Kyocera.

Finn claimed the promotion differs from others in the market as the vendor would take responsibility for any fringe benefits tax (FBT) that a reseller principal would incur as a result of staff participation in the program. It has been running in the United States for the past three years, Finn said.

There is no cash involved but the money on the card could be redeemed for goods and services, Finn said. Up to 500 resellers have already applied to be involved, he said.

A similar promotion was first launched in Australia by Fuji-Xerox in September last year. By March this year, the company had attracted 300 channel sales staff to its Mastercard promotion.

The Fuji-Xerox program - which was open to around 100 of its Star Partner Alliance members - resulted in the sale of 500 printers linked to the sales promotion.

In the meantime, Kyocera has cleaned up its channel model in order to reduce channel conflict created by its acquisition of Mita.

The company has appointed distribution managers in each state - bar South Australia and Western Australia - who are solely focusing on servicing the channel through distributors Tech Pacific and Ingram Micro, Finn said. Sales through these distributors made up around 55 percent of the company's revenue here, Finn said.

There are 60 dealers operating under its Total Solution Provider model. These dealers are service and product specialists and usually deal with the higher-end machines. The company is also creating a direct sales team in Sydney and Melbourne to target government accounts, Finn said.

Direct sales equate to 10 percent of its business and the majority of these sales are copier products, he said. 'A year ago there was a mismash - we had reps trying to handle the distribution channel and government,' he said.

Finn claimed government departments in city areas are demanding to deal direct with the vendor whereas in regional areas, they are generally happy to deal with the channel.