Executive Summary (Part II of II)

written by Scott Cullen | November 11, 2021

The three most pressing concerns ranked number one within the entire dealer universe comprising our Survey continue to be: declining clicks (52%), competing with manufacturer’s direct branches (20%), and hiring and retention (17%).
When viewing those concerns regardless of where the dealer ranked them, the top three concerns are declining clicks (78%), hiring and retention (58%), and maintaining profitability (49%).
While competing with manufacturers’ direct branches has been a long-time dealer concern, it has declined for three straight years when examining concerns regardless of positioning. Last year, it dropped to sixth place (37%), and this year, it has fallen to seventh place (32%), behind effectively diversifying your product/solutions/services offerings (42%), the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic (40%), and a clear vision of where the industry is heading (37%).
24% of Canon and Ricoh dealers were most concerned about competition from direct branches, compared to dealers representing the other Big Six OEMs.
Dealers representing Sharp (49%), Ricoh (43%), and Kyocera (42%) were most concerned about diversifying their product/solutions/services offerings.
Dealers ranked the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic as their fifth greatest concern.
Dealers’ ratings of their A3 manufacturers declined slightly from the previous year, with the Big Six averaging 4.3 out of a possible score of 5.0. Last year, that figure was 4.5.
For the third consecutive year, Sharp received the highest A3 manufacturer rating (4.5).
The biggest rating declines among the A3 OEMs were by Konica Minolta, 4.1 from 4.5 last year, and Ricoh, 4.0 compared to 4.4 last year.
Sharp claimed the highest rating among the A4 providers (4.5). Ricoh, despite not having an extensive A4 line, ranked second at 4.2.
A4 ratings for HP, Kyocera, and Lexmark all declined from the previous year. For the second straight year, Lexmark received the lowest rating (3.6), down from 3.8 a year ago.
Ricoh was identified by 28% of dealers as the top production print provider, followed by Konica Minolta (19%), Canon (18%), and Xerox (13%).
For the fifth consecutive year, the average number of leasing partners was 2.6.
The ratings of the top five leasing partners—those identified by 25 or more dealers as a primary leasing partner—were GreatAmerica Financial Services (4.6), U.S. Bank (4.5), DLL (4.3), Wells Fargo (4.3), and LEAF Commercial Capital (4.0).
The percentage of dealers handling their own leasing rose from 3.3% last year to 7.9%.
The top two ECM/document management providers in this year’s Survey were DocuWare and Square 9, followed by Laserfiche and M-Files. The top four print management providers were ACDI/PaperCut, FMAudit, PrintFleet, and Print Audit.
Despite the pandemic, 43% of dealers are very optimistic about the future of their businesses, 38% optimistic, and 16% somewhat optimistic. Only 1% were neutral, while 0.6% were pessimistic, and 1% somewhat pessimistic about the future of their business.
Canon and Ricoh have the most optimistic dealers, with not a single dealer representing those companies selecting neutral or pessimistic.
When asked how their customers feel about their companies’ performance in 2021, 71% of the dealers said their customers were positive about the future of their business. Nine percent (9%) are very optimistic and 62% optimistic.