Ricoh has enlisted broadliner Westcoast as its third UK distributor to help push its printing line-up into the IT channel.

Coming hot-on-the heels of Ricoh’s appointment of Midwich, Westcoast has been granted rights to sell Ricoh’s full range of mono, colour and gel-based printers. The partnership will formally kick off in October.

Westcoat’s appointment is part of Ricoh's wider effort to propel its UK printer market share above its current 2 per cent.

The vendor has also increased its UK channel sales and marketing headcount from 3 to 16 over recent months and last week launched a formal campaign through its distributors.

Ricoh claims incumbents Northamber and Midwich have registered 600 resellers since the campaign was launched - a tally that Westcoast is expected to add to once the partnership is up and running. The vendor admitted it previously had ties with a small handful of IT dealers only.