Exhibits 2.20-2.25
In last year’s Survey, with the exception of Lexmark, everyone’s ratings declined from the previous Survey. This year, with the exception of Lexmark, whose rating declined, and Sharp, whose rating remained the same, the other vendors’ ratings all improved from the previous year. That’s not to say that dealers are impressed with their A4 providers. The A4 ratings in comparison to the A3 ratings are still lower, which is likely a reflection of the supply chain issues of last year when A4 took a backseat to the higher margin A3 products in terms of where OEMs were devoting available resources. Even though A4 products are no longer experiencing backorders as they were most of last year, the dealers responding to our Survey seem to be basing their ratings of their A4 OEMs on how they handled the backorder situation of 2022.
Because not every Big Six OEM has a strong A4 offering, many dealers source A4 products from another vendor. Brother, Epson, HP, Lexmark, and Xerox are five manufacturers that dealers rely on to round out their A4 offerings. Thirty-three percent of respondents selected one of these other companies as an A4 provider, and 25% of these other companies as their primary A4 provider. Despite seeing Kyocera’s rating slip in the Survey, 20% of dealers still identified Kyocera as their primary A4 supplier, a 2% drop from the previous year. No other Big Six OEM comes close to that percentage.
Exhibits 2.20 to 2.24 show the ratings of the A4 vendors with 30 or more dealers selecting them as their primary A4 provider. The OEMs that met this criterion included HP, Lexmark, Kyocera, Ricoh, and Sharp. Combined, those five OEMs represent 67% of primary A4 suppliers. Exhibit 2.25 depicts the ratings of other A4 providers cited by fewer than 30 dealers.
Two A4 providers received ratings under 4.0, HP and Lexmark. HP has received the lowest rating in the Survey in the past two years, 3.3 last year and 3.5 this year. Despite making a concerted effort to improve its programs and relationship with the independent dealer channel, the company is still having a challenging time earning dealers’ respect. Part of this could still be misconceptions surrounding HP’s Amplify program, and some of it could be supply chain problems. After seeing Lexmark’s ratings decline in our previous two Surveys, it rebounded last year, receiving a rating of 4.1 compared to 3.6 a year ago. This year, Lexmark’s rating dropped to 3.8.
For the third consecutive year, Sharp received the highest rating (4.3), identical to its rating in last year’s Survey. In 2021, the company temporarily shifted its focus away from A4 to A3, which might have impacted the modest hit to its rating. Two manufacturers whose ratings improved from the previous year were Kyocera, which received a 4.2 after falling to 3.8 in last year’s Survey, and Ricoh, which improved to 4.1 from 4.0. There was also a modest rating improvement in the “Other” category, from 3.9 a year ago to 4.2, buoyed by a 4.7 from the 19 dealers that selected Epson as their primary A4 supplier. The other OEMs in this category included Brother (4.0), Canon (4.3), Konica Minolta (3.8), Toshiba (4.2), and Xerox (4.0).
The comments below provide additional insights into the ratings, including those companies that were identified by fewer than 30 dealers as their primary A4 supplier. Note the comments from dealers below about Epson. What’s particularly interesting about these comments is that last year not one dealer rated the company as “Excellent.” This year 15 out of the 19 dealers who identified them as their primary A4 supplier rated them “Excellent.”
Brother A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Brother is dealer focused.”
Excellent: “Brother has just been getting better every year.”
Very Good: “Great TCO.”
Very Good: “Rep is great, good products, good margin.”
Poor: “Hardware price, CPC, three-year warranty.”
Canon A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Quality products all the time.”
Excellent: “They continue to set the bar high with A4.”
Very Good: “Cost-competitive, reliable product.”
Good: “Need better pricing.”
Fair: “Product availability issues lingered, communication poor unless they are demanding something.”
Epson A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Epson is easy to sell and is very reliable.”
Excellent: “They are very attentive to their dealers.”
Excellent: “Epson is the best supplier I have ever worked with.”
Excellent: “Support is key, and Epson does a great job.”
Very Good: “Existing models work well, looking for more models.”
HP A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Brand recognition, quality, features, security.”
Very Good: “HP is the market leader. The programs we have for aftermarket supplies are unparalleled.”
Good: “HP is a golden name with a solid product. Looking forward to new A4 products from the other manufacturers in 2023 and beyond though.”
Fair: “The performance of the HP machines has declined significantly in the past couple of years. Their legacy machines perform better than the current offering.”
Fair: “HP is extremely difficult to work with. They still don’t understand the dealer channel.”
Konica Minolta A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Great support and excellent equipment reliability.”
Excellent: “Great communication.”
Good: “Quality products.”
Good: “Don’t manufacture their own products, inconsistent with rest of line.”
Poor: “Managed poorly through supply chain issues.”
Kyocera A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Solid support team and machines that work.”
Excellent: “Kyocera has had some staff changes and during these changes the new staff have been very knowledgeable about our company.”
Very Good: “Award-winning lineup.”
Very Good: “They have yet to have an incredible color option in their A4 lineup. Mono is excellent!”
Good: “Disagree with some of their policies.”
Lexmark A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Lexmark is a pleasure to do business with. They are a true partner and have a great approach to maintaining a relationship.”
Very Good: “Good diverse product line, dealer friendly.”
Very Good: “Lexmark programs are lucrative if meeting your quotas. Service support, when needed, is very strong.”
Good: “Good product, average support.”
Fair: “We just don’t agree on the new dealer program that was implemented a few years ago.”
Ricoh A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Good products, support, and pricing.”
Excellent: “They are engaged with us on a weekly basis with information about their products and services.”
Very Good: “The products are good to above average… and mostly unavailable.”
Good: “Products are good, but the backorder situation forced us to find a second supplier.”
Fair: “Lack of A4 equipment.”
Sharp A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Sharp’s MX-B476WH is a great unit. We look forward to the MX-C402SC replacement. The MX-C402SC is the best Color A4 in the industry.”
Excellent: “Sharp has done everything possible to ensure their dealers have products and services readily available.”
Very Good: “Partnership. Still need to dial in the product and CPC costs.”
Good: “They have a product that is priced competitively and runs well.”
Good: “Sharp has rebadged Lexmarks. They run well, just a little pricey compared to the excellent A4 Kyoceras.”
Toshiba A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Aside from supply chain delays they are great.”
Excellent: “I like the consistency and reliability.”
Very Good: “So far equipment has been reliable, and warranty is great.”
Good: “Needs more products in this part of the lineup.”
Fair: “Competitive pricing and product offerings.”
Xerox A4 MFP Ratings
Excellent: “Great turnaround time of getting equipment and knowledgeable support on A4.”
Very Good: “Continues to improve product along the way, and aside from higher operating costs, the products are better and easier to work on.”
Very Good: “Pricing and availability have been great.”
Very Good: “Expandability, cutting-edge technology, easy to use, great resources.”
Good: “Their equipment is great, but their customer service has gone downhill!”
