Annual Dealer Survey

The Cannata Report’s 39th Annual Dealer Survey is waiting for your response. Your opinion matters, and we invite you to participate in the Survey and let your voice be heard.

Our 38th Annual Dealer Survey concludes in the November issue with dealer ratings of their A3, A4, production print, production print, and print management and ECM/document management software vendors.

After presenting the meatiest part of our 38th Annual Dealer Survey in the October issue, it’s time for dessert: dealer ratings of their A3 and A4 OEMs, leasing partners, production print vendors, software partners, and OEM dealer meetings.

This year’s Annual Dealer Survey reveals a thriving industry despite the challenges of the past three years.

These are the highlights from Part II of our 38th Annual Dealer Survey.

After expanding the number of concerns to 13 two years ago in our Annual Dealer Survey, we found that a handful of them stood out from the rest, with only a small percentage of dealers selecting some of the other options among the choices.

A year ago, the overall A3 MFP ratings for the Big Six A3 OEMs plummeted to their lowest ever (4.0), which we attributed to fallout from the pandemic and supply chain issues.

The A4 MFP ratings in comparison to the A3 ratings are still lower, which is likely a reflection of the supply chain issues of last year when A4 took a backseat to the higher margin A3 products in terms of where OEMs were devoting available resources.

When tabulating dealers’ ratings of their leasing partners, we only include those companies that have been identified by 25 or more dealers as their primary leasing partner. For the third consecutive year, five leasing companies reached that figure.

AAs one would expect in the production print manufacturer ratings, the majority of dealers who selected the Best Production Print Manufacturer voted for their primary A3 provider.

For the past 10 years, we have asked dealers to identify which software provider offers the products and support that allows them to compete the most effectively. 

After a four-year hiatus, we are once again publishing dealer meeting ratings.

The Cannata Report’s 38th Annual Dealer Survey reveals a thriving industry despite the challenges of the past three years.

The Cannata Report’s 38th Annual Dealer Survey keeps rolling along, yielding valuable insights into the status of the office technology dealer channel and the performance of the OEMs that supply the channel with products and services.

Our 38th Annual Dealer Survey reveals a thriving industry despite the challenges of the past three years.

In this year’s Survey, 920 A3 MFP lines were reported across 456 respondents.

The average number of A4 lines carried per dealer saw a modest increase from 2.0 to 2.2, likely driven by a greater number of Survey respondents, and some dealers adding new A4 suppliers that had products available during the height of the supply chain crisis.

Each year in our Survey, we identify the manufacturers with the strongest distribution. To do this, we track how they ranked as a dealer’s primary and secondary equipment supplier.

After seeing the percentage of dedicated dealers rise to 44%, the highest in the history of our Survey last year, the percentage of dealer dedication fell to 37.5% this year.

If the dealer revenue results of our last two Surveys were sharply impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, one might think that this year’s Survey would have been impacted by the supply chain crisis.

The number of dealers in the $10 Million-Plus Club continues to grow thanks to organic growth and diversifying their product lines.

Multifunction A3 and A4 devices may have become the dominant technology in many offices, including home offices in the growing hybrid work environment, but standalone printers have not yet become extinct as evidenced by the results of our 38th Annual Dealer Survey.

Production print is also a great opportunity to capture clicks outside the traditional office. And now with Kyocera offering a production print machine and Sharp poised to do the same early next year, the number of OEMs offering production printers is expanding.

As the number of dealers participating in our 38th Annual Dealer Survey soared to 458 this year, we saw a modest decline in the percentage of dealers offering managed IT services.