Annual Dealer Survey

In this year’s Survey, 825 A3 MFP lines were reported across 400 respondents.

Despite generating lower margins than A3 devices, supply chain disruptions, and chip shortages, A4 multifunction printers have taken a licking but keep on clicking.

To identify the manufacturers with the strongest distribution, we track how they ranked as a dealer’s primary and secondary equipment supplier.

Over the years of conducting our Annual Dealer Survey, we’ve found that the data in many sections remains somewhat consistent year in and year out, deviating by a few percentages or fractions of a percentage.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted dealer revenues in 2020 and 2021.

Since 2019, we’ve been tracking dealers with revenues of $10 million or greater, calling it the “$10 Million-Plus Club.” Before then, we focused on dealers with revenues of $7.5 million and higher from 2017 through 2018, and before that, dealers with revenues of $5 million and higher.

Despite the dominance of A3 and A4 devices in the office, single-function printers keep plugging along. Survey respondents cited twelve different printer brands, including one dealer identifying the discontinued OKI product line.

There’s no denying that production print is a valid diversification opportunity, particularly for dealers with the appropriate financial resources.

Much to our surprise, this year’s Survey reveals a resurgence of managed print services (MPS).

To understand the impact of revenue on productivity, we divide total dealer revenue by the average number of salespeople.

As office technology evolves, dealers that want to remain relevant with customers and continue growing their businesses must diversify their product offerings.

In this week’s episode of Fridays with Frank, Frank G. Cannata and Editor-in-Chief Scott Cullen discuss how dealer revenues our trending based on the data in our 39th Annual Dealer Survey.

This week on an early holiday edition of Fridays with Frank, Frank G. Cannata revisits the dealer revenue data we collected in our 38th Annual Dealer Survey and what that says about the state of the independent dealer channel.

This week on Fridays with Frank, Frank G. Cannata discusses our 39th Annual Dealer Survey and why it’s important for independent dealers to let their voices be heard.

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.