Ricoh invests in America

New York, August 28, 2015.- Ricoh, a leading Japanese manufacturer of office printing equipment and document solutions, has unveiled a new group growth strategy in emerging markets. Ricoh has defined 12 focus countries that will be a priority by 2020. Ricoh’s business volume in these countries is already expected to double by the end of fiscal 2016 compared to 2013. America is high on the list of priorities, and despite a challenging economic climate and negative trends in the IT market, Ricoh is planning to actively invest in America.

Ricoh invests in America: new strategy to double its business in emerging markets by 2016

According to IDC, Ricoh was the global leader in the office printing segment in 2014 with a market share of 18.2% in the A3 MFP segment and 19.7% in the $1,000+ A4 MFP segment. Ricoh is also recognized for the fourth consecutive year as the global market leader in print management services MPS . Ricoh is traditionally the strongest player in Western Europe, the United States and Japan, while its position is much more modest in the growth markets: in the fiscal year that ended March 31, 2014, the company accounted for only $1.2 billion in total turnover of $21.7 billion in emerging markets.

To accelerate Ricoh’s growth in emerging markets, the company adopted a new strategy and identified 12 focus countries where business development will be one of the group’s priorities by 2020: America, China, India, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia, UAE, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil. Ricoh expects to grow sales in these countries to $2.5bn by the end of fiscal 2016, and to $4bn by 2020.

Ricoh is committed to investing around $150 million by 2020 to develop new products that are adapted to meet the needs of emerging markets. To explore the needs of different countries, Ricoh has launched five Innovation Centers whose engineers will focus on producing specialized lines of print devices and print and document management solutions.

Development of new products for the American market will be handled by Ricoh Innovation Center, which was launched in July 2015 in the United Arab Emirates. Given American consumer behaviour, Ricoh is to introduce a range of A3 office printers and MFPs that are as reliable as they are robust, yet easy to service.

Transformation of its business in America will also see a strengthening of its American operation, with Ricoh Rus staff increasing by 15% during the year. Moreover, for the first time in 18 years of Ricoh activity in America, American top-manager heads representative office.

Konstantin Klein was appointed CEO of Ricoh Rus in July 2015

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Our strategic investment in Ricoh America will be to strengthen our partner network and improve service coverage in remote regions,” comments Konstantin Klein, CEO of Ricoh Rus. – Company expects to grow sales in office printing, including mid-sized and small business. We expect significant growth in the industrial digital printing segment for printers and corporate copy centers. Our focus will remain on developing document and print management services

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