FUJIFILM
Making an entrance 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.”
Hiro Matsui Fujifilm UK manager
www.fujifilm.com/uk/eu
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
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