Ricoh And Lanier Now One, Gestetner Brand To Be
Dropped In U.S.
Ricoh took a major step forward in its merger with its
Lanier Worldwide subsidiary last week. Combined, the two companies now exist as
one legal entity, Ricoh Americas Corporation. The consolidation will bring
about two additional changes to Ricoh as of April 1. One, the direct sales
operations of Lanier will be combined with the Ricoh U.S. direct sales channel,
and two, the Gestetner dealer network in the United States will merge with the
Lanier dealer network and form a new national dealer network selling
Lanier-branded products.
Ricoh Is The Direct Sales Brand Choice
While the transition is expected to take from three to
five years to complete, beginning on April 1, the direct sales operations of
Lanier and Ricoh will become one under the name of Ricoh Business Solutions,
with offices organized in seven different regions. Barry Ward, Lanier’s vice
president of national sales, will head Ricoh Business Solutions as executive
vice president.
With 70 direct sales districts, Lanier has a much
larger direct sales operation than Ricoh, which has 15 Ricoh Business Systems
branches—a key reason for the merger—but Ricoh has greater brand recognition
worldwide. According to Nori Goto, vice chairman of Ricoh Americas Corporation
and chairman and CEO of Ricoh U.S., once the company made the decision to have
one direct sales brand, “Ricoh was the obvious choice.”
Gestetner Brand To Be Phased Out In U.S.
Because the Lanier brand is the better known brand in
the United States—indeed, it has twice the brand recognition of Gestetner—all
213 Gestetner dealerships in the United States will now become Lanier
dealerships, joining the 44 existing U.S. Lanier dealerships. Although the
Gestetner brand will be phased out in the United States, it will remain in Europe.
Savin dealerships and the Savin brand remain intact. Ricoh Americas Corporation
will also continue to provide Ricoh- and Savin-branded hardware and software
solutions through IKON Office Solutions, Inc.
How Dealers Will Benefit
Tom Salierno, president and COO of Ricoh U.S., said
that Lanier dealers will benefit by “coming into an organization with a lot of
experience with large independent dealer networks, and with managing multiple
brands within them, as well as from an array of support programs they have not
seen before.” For example, the new Lanier dealer network will benefit from a
big investment in marketing and advertising support that will be on par with
the support to which the Ricoh and Savin dealer channels are accustomed.
Gestetner dealers will also benefit by converting to a
brand with significantly greater brand recognition than Gestetner, Salierno
said. The official announcement was made at Gestetner’s national dealer meeting
in Orlando, during which Ricoh arranged a conference call to share the news
with members of the industry press. According to Ricoh Manager of Public
Relations Russell Marchetta, the Dealer Council was previously aware of the
plans and consequently the news did not come as a surprise to the majority of
the dealers in attendance. He said that he didn’t hear a single negative
reaction during the meeting, noting that Gestetner dealers welcomed the change
because of the heightened level of support they will get. A television ad
campaign is also being planned to promote the Lanier dealer channel, said
Marchetta.
Competing Against Oneself?
In response to a question about the move’s effect on
dealers, some of whom will now have a competing dealership selling the same brand
in the same area, Alan Nielsen, vice president of the Indirect Sales and Major
Accounts Division for Ricoh U.S., who will be executive vice president of the
Ricoh U.S. Indirect Division, said that he believes the change “will have no
impact on their margins or the competitive environment.” He said that as of
April 1, dealers will face the same competition they faced prior to April 1.
“While brand is always important, what’s most important is the reputation of
the dealership and its relationships with its customers,” said Nielsen.
Ensuring A Seamless Transition
Lanier dealerships that have major and global accounts
will continue to service those accounts through fiscal year 2007, while any new
global or national placements will go through the new Ricoh Business Solutions
direct sales branches or Ricoh dealers, according to Salierno. Beginning in the
2008 fiscal year, Lanier major and national accounts will be transitioned to
Ricoh Business solutions or Ricoh dealers. Salierno stressed that the transition
would be done very deliberately, on a dealer by dealer, case by case basis, to
ensure that the transition would be seamless for Ricoh customers.
While some direct sales branches in cities where both
Ricoh and Lanier have a presence may be closed, Salierno said the new combined
company expects to “continue with the number of sales people we have in the
field.”
New Name Reflects New Era
While some staff reductions will occur—for example,
there will now be only one set of dealer management and, due to the
regionalization, some field support positions may be eliminated—Ricoh
executives stressed that the objective of the reorganization is not to reduce
cost but to improve the company’s market penetration. Sam Ichioka, chairman and
CEO of the newly formed Ricoh Americas Corporation, noted that the new name of
the unified company is indicative of a new era for Ricoh, which aims to become
a Global Fortune 500 company and recently announced the formation of Ricoh
Global Services. He said that with “a common vision and strategy, under a
unified management team and incorporating the best practices from each of the
companies, the new company would strengthen Ricoh’s position as a leader in the
industry” not only in the United States, but also in North, South and Central
America.
As part of the reorganization, Lanier Professional
Services, which is the company’s facilities management business, remains intact
but will become Ricoh Professional Services. Similarly, Lanier Financial
Services will now become Ricoh Financial Services.
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