Konica Minolta Maintains Upbeat Tone After Challenging Couple of Years

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Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A. held a virtual analyst and press briefing on December 13, 2022, during which several company execs provided an update on all things Konica Minolta. The information shared included financial and operational highlights, supply chain and inventory status, product roadmaps, marketing and sustainability initiatives, and more news about a dealer program. While a large portion of the content was from previous announcements or was featured at the vendor’s hybrid dealer event in April, the presentation overall provided a comprehensive look at the progress the company has made this year and offered a glimpse into what’s to come in 2023. Here are some of our key takeaways:

• Konica Minolta’s supply chain issues have subsided, with US backorders currently below $100 million for dealer and direct channels. While the company acknowledged the situation is less than ideal, this progress marks a notable improvement compared to earlier this year.
• Konica Minolta confirmed its No. 3 market share position in the office and production print (21-151 ppm) segments, based on data through calendar Q3 2022.
• Following major incidents at its toner factories in 2021, coupled with supply chain challenges, the vendor’s production print non-hardware revenue is nearly 98% of FY2019 levels and volume is expected to surpass FY2019. Meanwhile, production print hardware inventory is fully replenished.
• Konica Minolta reduced the number of regions within its US direct organization from four to two to streamline operations, create flexibility, and balance support for its customers.
• In 2023, Konica Minolta plans to release a software update for its A3/A4 bizhub i-series devices, new high-speed bizhub 850i/bizhub 950i series, the AccurioPress 6136/6120 monochrome series, AccurioPress C84hc high-chroma press, and the AccurioWide 250.

Keypoint Intelligence Opinion

Following Konica Minolta’s subpar financial performance in FY2021, it’s encouraging to see that its financial figures have largely improved YOY. That said, company execs noted that the office revenue and volume aren’t expected to fully recover for another year or two when a full return to work is projected. While it’s notable that Konica Minolta has recently released net new A4 entry-level home office devices and forthcoming plans to update its bizhub lineup next year, the company’s growth strategy in the specialty printing segments is more encouraging. It is planning to invest in net-new offerings across the label, digital embellishment, and wide format areas as it looks to grow share and further differentiate itself in the high-end market segments.

Although Konica Minolta has encountered some challenges historically in growing dealer adoption for its IT services, the enhanced Rev’d Up program along with two new managed IT options (that will be launching in January 2023) may help drive adoption of and grow the revenue contribution for IT services from dealers. And in addition to everything the vendor discussed during the virtual briefing, company execs noted that there may be more announcements around the April 2023 timeframe. 

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