After four years without a distributor, Kyocera Mita Canada has inked Ingram Micro Canada to be its exclusive distributor.
Kyocera Mita’s original strategy was to be distribution free so that they could pass on more margins to its reseller base. The subsidiary also relied on a total cost of ownership solution strategy to win over new business.
However, Marco Nalli, marketing manager for Kyocera Canada, said it was becoming increasingly hard for some resellers to order its products. He acknowledged that it was a very simplistic thing, but resellers preferred the ease of use of the Ingram Micro ordering screen. In some cases, he said, resellers were ordering 10 to 20 products from Ingram Micro and would then have to launch Kyocera’s Web ordering system and put in another password.
“VARs were accustomed to using the Ingram Micro ordering screen. We have our own internal ordering system, but resellers carry several products and it became a challenge to put up another screen,” Nalli said.
Kyocera Canada is absorbing Ingram Micro’s margin off all Ecosys mid- and low-end printer products. Nalli said this new partnership will not impact any further or current partner. “Ingram Micro takes a cut obviously, but we’ll maintain the current price list and filter it right back to the resellers. We will absorb the added expense of distribution. All partners will still receive the same margin as before. It will be a seamless integration,” he said.
Resellers will also have the freedom to buy from Kyocera or Ingram Micro Canada.
The only printers that will not be available at Ingram Micro will be Kyocera’s FS-9520dn and its FS-8026dn printers.
The Ingram partnership will also boost Kyocera’s brand exposure in Canada, Nalli added.
“There is going to be a ramp up on Kyocera training for Ingram’s internal staff. They will learn about our TCO story and the exposure will be much quicker using Ingram Micro,” Nalli said.
He also hopes that with Ingram Micro onboard Kyocera can expand its reseller base in Canada.
According to Nalli, Ingram Micro is offering up its entire active list of more than 7,000 resellers. “We want to touch as many as possible and show them the value of the Ecosys products.”
It first promotion with Ingram will be a free Petra Canada gas card. Nalli said the promotion was very timely with the high price of gas these days.
Ingram Micro was chosen over Tech Data, Synnex and Supercom because Nalli wanted to try this new venture with the largest distributor in Canada. Also, other Kyocera subsidiaries around the world also use Ingram Micro.