In 2018, I spent a year analyzing Ricoh’s brand identity, customer engagement strategies, and executive-level relationships. At the time, I believed Ricoh’s strength lay in its closeness to customers, its commitment to values, and its ability to embed deeply in enterprise operations.
Seven years later, in 2025, I find myself working inside Ricoh’s ecosystem as these same themes resurface in a very different context. Large accounts that once embodied Ricoh’s promise — Kroger, adidas, and key higher-education institutions — are showing signs of churn. This is not an isolated issue. It looks like a pattern of enterprise account losses that raises questions about whether Ricoh is still living its brand values.
What I Saw in 2018
My 2018 writings outlined Ricoh’s identity and customer philosophy:
- Brand Values and Identity: Ricoh promised to be Close, Active, Unlimited and to embody the Spirit of Three Loves — love your neighbor, love your country, love your work. (Ricoh’s Brand Identity and Value Drivers)
- Executive Engagement: Ricoh claimed success depended on understanding “Level-C Customers” — the CEOs, CFOs, and CIOs making high-level decisions at enterprises like Amazon, Nike, and adidas. (Ricoh Level-C Executive Engagement)
- Customer Strategy: Ricoh’s engagement framework revolved around awareness, sales, and advocacy, supported by digital touchpoints like LinkedIn campaigns, service white papers, and executive-level events. (Ricoh Level-C Customer Strategy)
- Cultural Values: I compared Ricoh with adidas, noting that both positioned themselves as customer-centric companies rooted in timeless virtues. Ricoh’s “Three Loves” were framed as universal principles, while adidas emphasized performance, passion, integrity, and diversity. (Ricoh and adidas: Customer-Centric Cultures)
- Engagement and Long-Term Value: Ricoh’s growth strategy explicitly shifted toward “digital workplace solutions” as more profitable, signaling a pivot away from traditional, labor-intensive managed print accounts. (Ricoh Customer Engagement Strategy)
What I See in 2025
Today, the gap between those 2018 promises and customer reality is widening.
- Kroger closures and layoffs: Kroger is shutting about 60 stores nationwide over the next 18 months and cutting ~1,000 corporate jobs, rippling into embedded vendor teams like Ricoh’s print and signage operations. (AP News, Reuters)
- Higher education churn: Long-standing Ricoh accounts like UNC Charlotte and Duquesne University have publicly announced transitions to FedEx Office for campus print services. (UNC Charlotte News, Duquesne University)
- adidas relationship: While not formally announced, Ricoh’s presence within adidas’ North America headquarters in Portland has shown signs of strain. As someone who worked inside that account during earlier years, I’ve seen firsthand how fragile that connection can become when executive-level engagement falters.
- Strategic pivot confirmed: Ricoh’s own reports highlight its digital services transformation, with profitability goals tied to recurring services rather than labor-heavy managed accounts. (Ricoh Integrated Report 2024)
Why This Is Happening
Based on both my research and my front-line experience, I see several drivers behind this pattern:
- Executive-level disconnect: Ricoh promised “Level-C engagement” in 2018. But today, enterprise executives are choosing competitors who present a simpler value case: national retail footprints, streamlined logistics, and cost certainty.
- Profit-first strategy: Ricoh has openly pivoted to digital workplace profitability. While logical for shareholders, this deprioritizes the very embedded accounts that once defined Ricoh’s closeness to customers.
- Front-line neglect: In 2018, I highlighted Ricoh’s need for proximity and value exchange. Ironically, those are delivered most by front-line staff — the teams embedded in Kroger stores or adidas offices. Yet these are the teams most at risk when accounts flip.
- Competitor positioning: FedEx Office, in particular, is winning higher-ed and enterprise accounts by offering scale, accessibility, and national coverage — a message that resonates more strongly in procurement than Ricoh’s brand values.
The Bigger Question
In 2018, I argued that Ricoh’s values had to match its lived reality. Seven years later, that tension remains.
- Can Ricoh still embody the “Three Loves” if its strategic pivot undermines closeness with customers?
- Can it claim customer-centric culture while losing enterprise customers to competitors with simpler offers?
- Can a company promise timeless virtues while leaving front-line teams feeling disconnected and vulnerable?
In Closing
What I wrote in 2018 still matters today: values, customer closeness, and executive engagement are not “soft” strategies. They are survival strategies.
If Ricoh — or any company — fails to connect its corporate mission with the lived experiences of its employees and customers, competitors will fill that gap.
I’ll close with a question for readers:
What does it take for a global company to remain truly close to its customers in a market that rewards scale, cost-cutting, and consolidation?
References
AP News. (2025, June 18). Kroger to close about 60 U.S. stores over 18 months. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/2aa2d556bb2a21bab80bea07b9c7fb8f
Grocery Dive. (2025, August 26). Kroger cuts hundreds of corporate jobs. Grocery Dive. https://www.grocerydive.com/news/kroger-cuts-hundreds-corporate-jobs/758694/
Reuters. (2025, August 26). Kroger is laying off fewer than 1,000 corporate associates, source says. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/kroger-is-laying-off-fewer-than-1000-corporate-associates-source-says-2025-08-26/
Reuters. (2025, August 26). Kroger to lay off nearly 1,000 corporate workers, Bloomberg News reports. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/business/kroger-lay-off-nearly-1000-corporate-workers-bloomberg-news-reports-2025-08-26/
UNC Charlotte Auxiliary Services. (2025, June 18). Big copy and print changes coming to campus. UNC Charlotte. https://aux.charlotte.edu/2025/06/18/big-copy-and-print-changes-coming-to-campus/
UNC Charlotte Auxiliary Services. (2025, July 3). FedEx Office is now on campus. UNC Charlotte. https://aux.charlotte.edu/2025/07/03/fedex-office-is-now-on-campus/
Ricoh. (2024). Integrated report 2024: Sustainability report. Ricoh. https://www.ricoh.com/sustainability/report
Mikhail Oparin 