Not to take the steam out of Art Post’s column below on “The Death of the Direct Copier Channel,” but RJ Young Company’s acquisition of Ricoh direct branches certainly is an interesting development. I just finished watching RJ Young President and CEO Chip Crunk’s video message to the troops about the acquisition. What Art doesn’t mention are some of the details and that is that RJ Young is the first in the industry to actually acquire an OEM’s customer base. Fully 4,100 units, except for Global accounts, will be transferred to RJ Young. Additionally, more than 30 sales and service employees from Ricoh USA will also be transferred to RJ Young to help in the continued support of these accounts. These employees will join the dealership’s existing 400 employees. According to Crunk, this is a win-win for both Ricoh USA and the RJ Young Company as well as the customers of both companies. He estimates this acquisition will allow RJ Young to achieve its $100 million revenue goal in 2012.
Let’s chalk this one up as a win for the independent dealer community and indulge in some wild speculation that this may be the beginning of an ongoing trend.
New content this week includes:
- A New Business Model for Print Management
- Mobile Devices Present New Opportunities for Printing and Scanning
- What Did You Sell This Week?
- Art Post on the Death of the Direct Copier Channel
- News Bytes
