KYOCERA MITA South Africa ranks in top market category: office automation sector

InfoSource, the market sizing data specialist for the office automation sector, released its first half year results showcasing KYOCERA MITA South Africa to be the most progressive brand in the industry. This as a result of the organisation’s aggressive growth strategy defined by an overall focus on value of products and solutions offered to the market, as opposed to competitors who have mainly resorted to maintenance strategies, thereby trying to meet market demands on a pricing level only.

As a result, KYOCERA MITA South Africa has become the fastest growing brand in the MFP for business use category. The brand, for the period of January to June 2011, versus January – June 2010, has seen a growth of 83% in sales which has given KYOCERA an additional 4.2% in market share, totalling 11.8% of total market share in this segment.

According to Jody Harrington, senior manager for Commercial Operations at KYOCERA MITA South Africa: “This is a significant achievement for KYOCERA MITA South Africa as it sets a precedent for the most growth in this product segment year-on-year and sends a reinforcing positive message to the market about our intentions to continuously provide a lucrative value proposition, demonstrated through market leading reliability of our machines and unrivalled cost efficiency.”

KYOCERA attributes its continued growth in South Africa to a number of key drivers, most notably:
Expansion and investment in its channel and infrastructure – a plan designed and implemented over the last four years, to aggressively grow and develop a strong network of KYOCERA dealers and distributors in the South African market.
“Our partners are integral to the success of the KYOCERA brand both locally and globally. Our commitment to partnering with the best and providing them with relevant training and access to information remains firm. Our customers know that when they deal with our partners, it is as if they are dealing directly with KYOCERA,” adds Harrington.

Prioritising research and development during the recession at a time when most organisations were cutting budgets. The result is the most comprehensive line-up of products ranging from the smallest desktop printers to large format production machines.
“Our recently launched Smart MFP range of products demonstrates a keen understanding of industry needs and brings to market a best fit for all business scenarios,” says Harrington.

Early adopters of managed document solutions (MDS), which has enabled KYOCERA to offer clients a unique understanding around their print requirements and therefore develop innovative relationships with customers: “This has formed part of our key growth and is based directly on presenting clients with our core proposition based on value rather than just price.”

“With these core tenets in place, we believe our goal of becoming the number one office automation and document output devices brand in South Africa, within the next two years, is well within our reach,” confirms Harrington.

According to InfoSource, for the period January – June 2011, KYOCERA MITA in Germany recently earned top rankings as the number one brand of choice in the multifunctional (MFP) for business use category in 2011, from fourth position just a year ago. As a manufacturer, KYOCERA MITA represents 23.5% of the German market share.

KYOCERA’s growth has not come without its own challenges. Most notably, its late entry to the market without an extensive colour product range. This has been overcome in the last two years with the subsequent launch of the TASKalfa range. The TASKalfa range has catapulted KYOCERA into the mainstream colour market, bringing a diverse range of products to South African companies.

States Harrington, “South African corporates need to start calculating the total cost of their office automation solutions – especially if their buying decision to date has been based on price alone. Our single commitment for businesses is to find a printing and office automation solution that drives unrivalled cost efficiency, delivers the lowest downtime, greatest reliability and durability – in our words – the best total cost of investment. Our customers have experienced the benefit of such a value based proposition and the results are proof this concept works.”

Timing of legislative changes, coupled with economic instability resulting from an unstable exchange rate; strikes and the resultant fuel shortages has necessitated the implementation of stock availability and distribution contingency plans. “Include into the mix the introduction of the National Credit Act; the Consumer Protection Act and the Financial Intelligence Centre Act (FICA), we experienced a lengthening of the purchasing cycle and needed to react swiftly in order to adapt to such challenges so as not to hinder growth,” explains Harrington.

“The last four years have been about making the right investments, overcoming the challenges of being most notably a late entrant into the colour market. By prioritising research and development during the recession at a time when our competitors were cutting back, has yielded a diverse and innovative range of products and solutions that are unrivalled by our competitors. We anticipate expansive, continued growth attributed to this dynamic thinking which has propelled us up the rankings in such a short space of time, consolidating KYOCERA as an industry leader,” concludes Harrington

Fast facts and figures:
- According to InfoSource, the KYOCERA FS-1128MFP, the perfect all-rounder, is the most popular MFP model in South Africa, with sales making up 5% of the total MFP market share. This combined with its product recognition as the best MFP in its class according to BLI’s (Buyers Lab Inc. independent document imaging testing lab) Summer Pick Awards

- The A4 MFP market segment in South Africa has grown by almost 50% year-on-year, with KYOCERA placed second in the segment, with 17.9% of the total market. The growth in this segment can be attributed to the increased and continued growth in the overall market, combined with the rise of small to medium companies in South Africa that require a cost effective printing and office automation solution

- In South Africa, the continued growth of the laser printer market, both mono (20 plus pages per minute) and colour (10 plus pages per minute) shows a 19% year-on-year growth. The continued demand for laser printers confirms that there is still a place in the market for high speed, cost effective, network printing with KYOCERA selling 3615 units in 2011 compared to 2544 units in 2010