Toshiba Tec President Hironobu Nishikori (pictured above) and Rance M. Poehler, executive officer in charge of the overseas retail business and president of Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions, held a “FY2026 Management Policy Briefing” on May 29. They explained the company’s medium-term management plan for 2026–28 and the next-stage strategy through 2030.
The next-stage strategy continues the business direction Nishikori outlined at a briefi ng six months earlier: strengthening software, data, and services; shifting from a traditional business model centered on hardware and maintenance to becoming a solutions partner; and improving profi tability through recurring business. In the workplace business, however, the company also disclosed the development schedule for integrated MFP models to be developed and manufactured by ETRIA.
Toshiba Tec operates two major businesses: its retail business, which holds the world’s number one share in POS systems, and its workplace business, with 1.4 million MFPs in operation worldwide. In the retail business, Toshiba Tec POS systems are used by eight of Japan’s top 10 retailers, seven of the top 10 retailers in the United States, and four of the top 10 retailers in Europe. The company provides ELERA, a platform that uses AI in the cyber domain to utilize data collected by these customers through physical touchpoints such as POS systems.
The basic policy of the FY2026 medium-term management plan is to simultaneously improve fundamental profitability and drive business transformation, completing the foundation for establishing a high-profit, growth oriented model. To improve fundamental profi tability, Toshiba Tec will strengthen its cost structure by becoming more asset-light. In business transformation, it will make growth investments in partner strategies and recurring businesses. The company first aims to achieve a 10% operating profit margin in its domestic Japanese retail business in FY2028, then a 10% operating profit margin in its overseas retail business in the Americas in FY2029, and finally a 10% companywide operating profit margin in FY2030.
ELERA: A cloud-native, hardware-agnostic, and deployment-flexible platform
Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions President Poehler explained the company’s policy of evolving ELERA through AI and marketplaces, leveraging its customer base of major retailers in 30 countries around the world, including Kroger, Costco, and Walmart in the United States. The company intends to accelerate ELERA sales growth and place its overseas retail business on a high-growth trajectory.
Nishikori explained the growth strategy for the workplace business, which is centered on MFPs. To improve the workplace business, Toshiba Tec established ETRIA in July 2024 as a joint venture with Ricoh. ETRIA develops and manufactures integrated MFP and printer hardware models and supplies them to brand-owner companies. In October 2025, OKI also joined the joint venture. ETRIA is now developing high-performance, high-quality integrated MFPs that combine the technologies of the three brand-owner companies.
The first integrated model being developed by ETRIA for Toshiba Tec is scheduled to be supplied during FY2026 as an A3 color entry-level model for the Chinese market. Then, in the second half of FY2027, mid- to high-speed color and monochrome integrated models equipped with a new engine shared by Toshiba Tec, Ricoh, and OKI are expected to appear. These models are scheduled to expand in FY2028.
The integrated MFPs that share a common engine among the three companies will reduce production costs through economies of scale. At the same time, each company will install its own proprietary print controller, making the products unique to each of the three companies. They will also be sold through each company’s existing sales channels, as before. With the market launch of integrated models equipped with the new engine, Toshiba Tec and the other two companies will begin to fully benefi t from the integration effects of ETRIA’s establishment: becoming more asset-light and strengthening product competitiveness.
In the workplace business, Toshiba Tec also plans to continue securing stable earnings from MFP after-sales revenue while concentrating management resources on the growing offi ce solutions market. For solutions sales in the workplace business, the company has set a target CAGR of 13% from FY2025 to FY2028. Toshiba Tec is aiming for a growth rate more than twice the projected CAGR of 5% for the office solutions market from FY2024
to FY2028, according to Keypoint Intelligence. Through this growth, Toshiba Tec plans to increase the ratio of solutions sales from 5% in FY2025 to 10% in FY2030.
To realize its growth strategy in the workplace business, Toshiba Tec will expand its offi ce solutions portfolio and strengthen its own intellectual property. The company is especially highly regarded by SMB customers and plans to focus on providing solutions that meet SMB needs. As an implementation example, Toshiba Tec introduced a case involving a restaurant chain on the U.S. West Coast with more than 100 locations. The company provided Elevate Sky workflow and print management for Toshiba Tec MFPs installed by the chain, earning strong recognition for simple accounting workfl ow automation.
