Dealer Support November 2014

November 2014 Issue 233

INSPIRING BUSINESS SOLUTIONS FOR DEALERS

DEALER SUPPORT NOVEMBER 2014 | ISSUE 233 SHUT UP MOVE ON | THE ROMAN GROUP | WRITE STUFF

SHUT UP MOVE ON Why the industry needs to look forward THE FRIENDLY EMPIRE Growing business the personable way THE WRITE STUFF Why is the pen sector so resilient?

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FROM THE EDITOR

Power to the people INDUSTRY

BUSINESS GROWTH PROGRAMME

BUSINESS GROWTH PROGRAMME

THE SEVEN PILLARS OF FOCUSED GROWTH

page 10

page 32

XPD is launching an all-new, wholesaler and dealer group agnostic business growth programme called Focus7.

Austin Clark spoke to David Langdown, XPD’s MD, to find out more

I

n a time of consolidation and change within the office products sector, XPD has decided that, for some dealers, the traditional dealer group offering is not enough. As a result, it has launched Focus7, a business growth programme aimed at all independent dealers, regardless of

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The last month has been a busy one for the team here at Dealer Support. With the conference and event season in full swing, we’ve been to all manner of dealer group conferences, facilities supplies training days, press conferences, exhibitions and awards ceremonies. All are very different occasions but they also all have one thing in common – brilliant people.

We all exist in a supremely professional and successful sector where time is precious. Yet, people always have time to laugh, joke, talk business and share thoughts, an industry positive that’s often undervalued. The standing ovation given to Steve Harrop at the Office Friendly bash, for example, was really moving and summed up the loyalty that exists amongst the office products community.

As the industry moves through a period of change, dealers will need to utilise that personality and those friendly relationships to their advantage in order to survive and thrive. Contract stationers and online giants simply can’t get anywhere close to replicating the rapport your salespeople have with customers, so let’s make the most of it. Even when we change and embrace the ‘Millennials’ and their desire to buy online, we can bring personality and familiarity into what we do. Social media, blogs and email marketing need not be impersonal and faceless and many dealers are already reaping the rewards of talking about staff members and their charity escapades. The Roman Group, subject of this month’s dealer profile 29 on page 34 is a good example.

Talking of change, Bob Geens’ opening gambit at the Advantia Conference really got delegates going, which is why we report on it on page 26. ‘Shut up, move on’ is a pretty good mantra given the position of the industry and the challenges facing us.

We have an issue packed full of interviews and information this month so, without further ado, I’m gonna shut up and let you get on with reading through – enjoy!

wholesaler, market sector or dealer group membership.

As the name suggests, the Focus7 service has been developed to take those who sign up on a journey through seven elements of business development. The end goal of the programme is, as MD David Langdown puts it, “to help dealers achieve considerable growth”.

“We do this by encouraging dealers to visualise the future for their business and, by creating and implementing unique managed marketing solutions, enable them to reach their targets,” he adds.

“For us, Focus7 represents a shift in our model. If you think of XPD in its traditional sense operating dealer groups, we’ve always aligned our programmes with specific wholesalers. The supply chain challenges this year have encouraged us to identify how we can best support independent dealers irrespective of where they buy or indeed, what they sell. So, with Focus7, we’ve created a programme that is not based around any particular wholesaler and, in fact, it’s not even based around the office products sector. It works equally well for a business focusing on FM, IT or even completely unrelated sectors like car supplies or financial services. It doesn’t matter what the product is because it’s a marketing communications and business development programme that will work without setting any constraints. And Focus7 is not an attack on other dealer groups, we’re happy to offer it to all dealers, even those in other groups.”

Langdown continues: “Focus7 is a long-term business development programme which supports the dealer through growth and takes a holistic view of their entire business. As the name suggests, there are seven modules in the programme which form a continuous loop across the year. We start with a business valuation and audit which sets the platform for the rest of the modules, which we’ll run through and implement over a 12-month period. At the end of that the dealer returns to the valuation and goes around the loop again.”

The seven pillars of Focus7 (more details can be found at www.xpdfocus7.co.uk) are: • Business audit • Strategic planning • Brand analysis development and implementation • Online and offline marketing • Telemarketing and campaign management • Corporate and contract accounts • Training and mentoring The Focus7 service is totally bespoke, meaning dealers can choose to complete the whole journey or simply cherry pick the modules that they feel will help them the most. Within that, the programme that the Focus7 team is customised for each individual dealer. “We don’t want to dictate to dealers, it’s their business! We offering flexibility because each business is different and therefore each business development programme must be too,” explains Langdown. “As I said before, we’re introducing a business growth programme for any reseller, regardless of group, wholesaler or sector.”

“The supply chain challenges this year have encouraged us to identify how we can best support independent dealers irrespective of where they buy or indeed, what they sell”

NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

Ready to go XPD has been building the elements of the Focus7 programme since April and the full programme is now ready to go live. XPD will be launching Focus7 through a series of roadshows at the end of November and beginning of December in Paisley, Yorkshire, Bristol, Birmingham and London, with more dates to potentially be added. The roadshows will be hosted by the Focus7 Team supported by P1, the programme’s training partner.

Investment has been made in telemarketing, writing and design staff to ensure that side of the business is as strong as it needs to be and dealers are provided with the highest levels of support. Tried and tested software/ online systems have also been purchased. On the business audit side XPD FairValue provides access to live business valuation knowledge, while FocusPoint is a bespoke campaign management software that combines CRM, email marketing and lead capture in on single framework.

When asked who the ideal Focus7 dealer is and how many dealers he’s aiming to sign up, Langdown answers: “We’re targeting dealers across the UK and, because it’s flexible, we can aim for dealers of most sizes, although those with spend of £350k or more at wholesale level are ideal. I would like to have a dozen signed up by Christmas, with 50 to 60 eventually on board. The programme, from XPD’s point of view, is completely expandable. We already have the team to manage what needs to be done as we’ve been successfully working on similar initiatives with our Elite Dealers. Those people have the skillsets that can be passed on to additional new members of staff when needed. We’ll never recruit more dealers than we can manage to the levels that we expect to offer. We don’t want to sign up every dealer in the UK – we’re looking to work with those that have a genuine desire to grow and are prepared to invest in and commit to a full 12-month strategy. After that, we’ll go back to step one to see the impact Focus7 has had on their business value and demonstrate the return on investment.”

Langdown concludes by saying: “This is a new model for the industry. It offers a one-to-one approach that is way beyond what a dealer group can offer. Every element of Focus7 is uniquely created and implemented for each dealer and that is reflected in the costs of the programme, which the dealer must bear. Because it’s not a dealer group offering, there are no wholesaler of supplier rebates to rely on, the dealer pays but the effects and the return on investment are easy to see. Let the dealer buy where he wants at the best possible price and invest in the future growth of his business. It’s as simple as that.” DS

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

“Dealers can measure the benefit in sales but should then ascribe a value to all of the intangible benefits” EDITOR Austin Clark austin.clark@intelligentmedia.co.uk

DESIGNER/PRODUCTION Peter Hope-Parry peter.hope-parry@intelligentmedia.co.uk

SENIOR ACCOUNT MANAGER – MEDIA SOLUTIONS Matthew Moore matthew.moore@intelligentmedia.co.uk

SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER Natalia Johnston natalia.johnston@intelligentmedia.co.uk

ACCOUNT MANAGER – MEDIA SOLUTIONS Krystle Davis krystle.davis@intelligentmedia.co.uk

PUBLISHER Vicki Baloch vicki.baloch@intelligentmedia.co.uk

DESIGNER Sarah Chivers sarah.chivers@intelligentmedia.co.uk

editor

CONTACT US

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30

CONTENTS November 2014

INDUSTRY 10 DEALER GROUP UPDATE What’s happening in the world of dealer groups?

20 CONSOLIDATION AND CHANGE We share the key points from the Q&A session at the OFDA conference

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22 QUESTION TIME Chris Scott from DAMS shares his thoughts on furniture, dealers and the industry 26 SHUT UP, MOVE ON Advantia’s Bob Geens on the need to look forward 30 DEFINITELY NOT RUN OF THE MILL Why Double A wants to be the Coca-Cola of the paper industry

PEOPLE 34 THE FRIENDLY ROMAN EMPIRE The dealer that has grown thanks to a personable approach to business 40 60 SECONDS WITH… Mike Stranders, vice president, EMEA marketing at Acco Brands

MANAGEMENT

42

42 SCAN AND MANAGE The scanning and document management services available to your customers

USP 47 WRITE STUFF What’s hot in the world of pens and writing instruments?

50 BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING The importance of cyber security for your customers 54 FINAL WORD Turning browsers into buyers

INDUSTRY

NEWS

NEWS OfficeTeam acquires Buro Industry award winners celebrated in style

Just ten weeks after being acquired by Better Capital, OfficeTeam has announced the acquisition of Buro Business Supplies, a £6m business based in Chessington, Surrey.

OfficeTeam will extend its distribution service to the Buro customer base, including having OfficeTeam delivery drivers take the goods to the required locations within their offices.

Jeff Whiteway, CEO of Spicers-OfficeTeam said: “We welcome Buro to the group and look forward to seeing the benefits that our last mile service will offer their customers. Buro has proven ecommerce technology platforms in place and its experienced team will continue to build long and strong end-user relationships under our new ownership.”

Alan Bonner, CEO of Buro, added: “When we considered the consolidation taking place in the market it became an obvious next step to talk to SpicersOfficeTeam about joining forces. We’ve been competing with the OfficeTeam service model for many years and now we can take advantage of everything they have to offer us. We are excited about the opportunity to combine the significant assets, resources and successes of our two companies to set a new standard in the industry.”

“Buro will enjoy trading within the group,” commented Whiteway further.

“We have a history of many successful acquisitions under private equity ownership and Better Capital has been as positive as expected in supporting us fully in our planned development.”

“Buro’s pragmatic approach made the whole process easy and both companies share a passion for delighting their customers. Over the next few years Buro’s team will have a greater opportunity to do that with a wider range of specialist products and services now being available to them. Buro’s contribution to the group will include further strengthening our ecommerce capabilities.”

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NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

BOSS celebrated the best of the industry last month at a buzzing industry awards evening. Over 400 people from across the industry celebrated at the annual event, which took place at the ICC in Birmingham. Award winners on the night were as follows: Brand of the Year: Facilities Supplies Nestle Brand of the Year Award: Traditional Initiative Brand of the Year Award: Technology HP Brand of the Year: Furniture Bisley Catalogue of the Year Award: Under £5m Annual Turnover NEMO Group Catalogue of the Year Award: Over £5m Annual Turnover Nectere Initiative of the Year Award The Copy Shop Dealer Excellence Award: Under £5m Annual Turnover Reflex Office Products Dealer Excellence Award: Over £5m Annual Turnover Langstane Press Limited Manufacturer Marketing Excellence Award The Pilot Pen Company (UK) Reseller Marketing Excellence Award Integra Office Solutions Digital Marketing Campaign of the Year Award Avery UK Environment Award: Manufacturers Sinclairs Environment Award: Resellers Lyreco New Products of the Year Rexel Auto Feed Micro Cut Shredders, ACCO Brands STABILO Neon, STABILO International Professional of the Year Debbie Nice, Vasanta Group Outstanding achievement award Nigel Mitchell

NEWS

o2o acquisition finalised

VOW gives the Green Light

Vasanta has announced that following shareholder, court and regulatory approval being granted by the Competition and Market Authority, EVO Business Supplies, a company owned by funds managed by Endless LLP, has successfully completed the acquisition of office2office plc (o2o).

Now that the deal is complete, the companies will begin to refine their plans to merge Vasanta with o2o. The new £660m Group will be one of the largest multichannel distributors of business supplies and services in the industry with unparalleled reach and experience. The successful VOW Wholesale business will gain access to the industry leading o2o Truline final mile delivery service, giving the Group a fleet of around 300 vehicles. Supplies Team and Banner will merge to create a £220m contract stationery business with a strong position focused on large corporate and public sector customers.

Robert Baldrey, EVO Group CEO commented: “We are delighted to have completed the acquisition and are extremely excited about the opportunities offered by the creation of the merged Group. We immediately gain significant scale, which is so critical in this consolidating market, and an industry leading final mile delivery service. We will also offer an unmatched breadth of product range and depth of experience in the market. I am convinced that we can drive the merged Group on to even more success than we have separately enjoyed these past few years.”

VOW has revealed plans for Green Light 2015, its most interactive and ambitious event to date. Open to all resellers across the UK, the event at the Hilton Metropole, Birmingham on Friday 23 January 2015 will offer delegates everything they need for running and growing their businesses.

A mix of inspirational and practical talks, seminars, workshops, networking and supplier stands will make Green Light 2015 a complete one stop shop for reseller business development, giving participants an array of ideas and techniques for competing in a fast changing market.

The event will be open to every UK reseller regardless of their relationship with VOW. Get Switched On will be one of the lead messages of Green Light, with speakers and seminars focused on the need to transform your business and recognise the importance of technology. Sales training, social media and back office system seminars lead by industry specialists will be complemented by interactive ‘Switch On’ sessions around MPS, technology, facilities supplies, furniture and traditional office products.

In a series of separate events across the day, VOW+ Partners will be given the opportunity to take part in exclusive VOW+ seminars, as well as meet the Vasanta board to discuss relevant industry issues. Daytime activities will be followed by a black tie gala dinner and VOW+ Partner awards ceremony in the evening.

A huge supplier exhibition will see manufacturers present the latest product, service and solutions offers on the market, giving delegates the chance to identify opportunities for expanding their ranges and business offering. VOW category heads will give hourly presentations during the day on the latest developments in their categories.

The Green Light programme is intended to give resellers the opportunity to engage with as many industry contacts as possible.

Martin Weedall, national sales director at VOW, commented: “Green Light will be VOW’s biggest event yet in terms of both scale and scope. The industry is evolving fast and we are changing our approach to address this, creating our most engaging and inclusive day to date.

We’re developing the event to become a learning and resource centre for partners and resellers from across the UK and we believe it will be highly effective in equipping everyone for ongoing change.

ZenOffice acquires Baron Stationers

ZenOffice has announced the acquisition of Baron Stationers, the dealer based in Heywood, Greater Manchester.

The deal will see ZenOffice take on Baron’s after-sales support including deliveries, invoices and servicing. At the same time Baron Stationers will now be able to offer their many loyal and longstanding customers the complete range of ZenOffice products and services under their four divisions, including ZenOffice Print & Design, ZenOffice Managed Print Services (MPS) and ZenOffice Business Interiors & Exteriors (ZOBIE), as well as ZenOffice Business Supplies.

ZenOffice MD, Les Kerr, commented: “We respect how Baron Stationers, a successful family business that has been trading locally now for over 20 years, has built that success on the principle of exceptional service. The technology and resources that we bring in will only improve what’s already a first class offering.”

Philip Baron, MD of Baron Stationers, added: “When ZenOffice expressed interest in getting involved, of course I was happy to hear what they had to say. Our traditional family business approach aligned with their strength as the North West’s largest independent office supplies company is great news for all concerned, especially our customers.”

“It’s a perfect fit for us,” concludes Kerr. “This is our eighth acquisition and we intend to acquire more over the next two years. Each time we make absolutely sure that the new people we work with share our ‘customer first’ philosophy. We’re all absolutely delighted to welcome Philip and his team on board.

THE MONTH IN NUMBERS

120

The number of new products launched by DAMS at its successful 2014 roadshows

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

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INDUSTRY

NEWS

OKI appoints head of customer services OKI Systems UK has announced the appointment of Christine West as head of customer services. In this role, she will be responsible for all aspects of service delivery both to channel partners and end-users of OKI solutions.

“My aim is to build on OKI’s existing service proposition and establish the company as a leader for service delivery across the UK’s IT services sector,” says West.

“OKI has evolved in recent years to become a provider of complete solutions backed up by a full end-to-end service offering,” she adds. “In line with this, I am focused on driving efficiencies in internal processes while delivering services that meet the many and varied needs of our customers. While maintaining our traditional telephone-based services, we are also looking to develop the way we use the latest technologies to enhance the overall customer experience.”

Before joining OKI, West spent nearly four years as client director at Cura Technical, a specialist IT services provider and a third party maintenance partner of OKI. Working alongside OKI on a key print solutions contract with the government agency, Defra, West played a pivotal role in ensuring the success of this highly complex and high-profile project.

Dealer to double in size after securing funding Claughton Office Equipment is set to double in size in the next three years after securing £500,000 of investment from funding body Finance Yorkshire.

The Yorkshire-based workplace furniture business designs and fits products for schools, colleges and universities, as well as public and commercial offices. It now employs almost 40 people and has invested in a factory and new design and planning department.

MD Gerard Toplass led a management buyout of the firm in 2008 and it has since grown significantly. He also launched online stationery marketplace Frillo, which is seeking to become an ‘Amazon for businesses’.

news in brief...

OFFICE CLUB ADDS AUGMENTED REALITY TO CATALOGUES Office Club members will have their 2015 Essentials Range catalogues enriched with engaging digital experiences through the introduction of augmented reality, including the option for a bespoke interactive front cover.

Additional animated information and videos supporting the products appear when a user hovers their smartphone over a product.

SUPERSTAT INTRODUCES PERSONALISED COVERS The Superstat Group is taking its new look quarterly mailer a step further by offering its dealers the added benefit of totally bespoke cover options. Head of marketing, Carl Bavis, commented: “Dealers want to stand out and have a competitive edge in a challenging market. We understand that their business is unique and that should come across in all interactions they have with their customers, including publications.”

HP TO BE SPLIT UP Technology giant HP is to split itself into two separate companies, with the company’s better-performing computer and printer business splitting up from its corporate hardware and services operations.

Shareholders will be given a stake in both businesses. The split is part of a radical restructuring plan, which has already resulted in tens of thousands of job cuts in recent years.

DIARY 23 January 2015 VOW Green Light Hilton Metropole, Birmingham

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23 April 2015 Integra Expo 2015 Leicester Tigers Stadium, Leicester

NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

PAPERCHAIN PARTNERSHIP NAMED OFDA DEALER OF THE YEAR

Steve Harrop and Keeley Shepherd of Office Friendly present the Mike Hindmarch Memorial Award for Dealer of the Year to Michael Lowes, Peter Helling and Liz Helling of The Paperchain Partnership.

Office Friendly has honoured its most innovative members at a special awards ceremony.

Six companies were saluted at the 2014 Office Friendly Annual Awards – sponsored by VOW and Nestle – which crowned the dealer group’s 20th anniversary conference in Sutton Coldfield last month.

High Wycombe-based business The Paperchain Partnership was named Dealer of the Year by an Office Friendly judging panel, with Tyne & Wear independent Interline recognised as New Dealer of the Year.

Members voted for Newell Rubbermaid and AF International as their Manufacturing Vendors of the Year, while Lingfield-based Paper & Office Solutions took home the gong for Marketing Excellence and Intec of Doncaster the Q-Connect Award for impressive sales growth.

“The Office Friendly Awards - now in their second year - are all about celebrating the successes of our members and this year’s event,

as part of our 20th birthday celebrations, was extra special,” said Steve Harrop, managing director of Office Friendly.

“In challenging times, it’s important to recognise those progressive, proactive dealers, as well as the great work our suppliers do to help all our members.

“We hope this year’s success stories serve as inspiration and help focus everyone’s mind on what makes a business really tick.”

Harrop said the recent achievements of The Paperchain Partnership, which last year appointed Michael Lowes as sales and marketing director, were “impossible to ignore”.

“Peter and Liz took time 18 months ago to review their business and made some pivotal changes,” he added.

“As well as recruiting Michael to re-energise the business, they’ve been bold in investing in tools to generate new, profitable sales.

“It promises to be an exciting future for Paperchain and this award is richly deserved.”

For more information about how to boost your business with Office Friendly - including through new marketing service KascAid call 0114 2566 300 or email marilyn.caster@officefriendly.co.uk

INDUSTRY

DEALER GROUPS

STRENGTH IN NUMBERS What key functions do dealer groups play in today’s office products industry and how can they help their members thrive? Austin Clark reports

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NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

DEALER GROUPS

A

s the rate of change within the office products industry accelerates, the role of the dealer group is changing too. That’s why we’re seeing a whole host of service-related launches from the big name groups, most notably on the marketing front, with evermore sophisticated offerings being released all of the time.

Mark Austen, CEO at Office Club, says: “Dealer groups are more important than ever today as the breadth of what a successful reseller must offer its clients grows exponentially, along with methods of communicating with them. Dealers therefore increasingly need external expertise, support and differentiation. Dealers face challenges on a daily basis, not least time, and the better dealer groups offer support right across the spectrum.”

Bob Geens, CEO, Advantia Business Solutions, adds: “Dealer groups will always be necessary as long as they offer the services members need and support them with the tools they require to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. It is still more cost effective for a dealer group equipped with the resources and combined influence of a group of dealers to initiate, plan and deliver IT solutions, marketing, logistics and purchasing than can be achieved by individual dealers doing this for themselves. In Advantia we have large and small dealers and they all benefit from the work the group head office delivers for them.”

“Groups need to play a key part in delivering substantial value for money to all members who wish to engage as we are in a unique position to add value”

Overcoming challenges For Sian Haskell, director of marketing at Integra, dealer groups are the organisations best placed to help dealers overcome the current market challenges.

“Dealers are facing huge challenges, not least the decline in core stationery. Finding additional sales opportunities and getting the message out there is crucial, which is why Integra continues to develop a marketing programme that supports all categories and extends to added value services and managed services.

Integra also helps its members where limited resource is an issue - from purchasing, and marketing to IT support, and can assist with maintaining back office, websites and IT systems. That’s all in addition to ensuring dealers remain competitive. Integra continues to achieve improved pricing for dealers in a difficult climate. The Initiative product range also offers dealers a competitively priced range.”

This breadth of assistance is something Steve Harrop, MD of Office Friendly, says is crucial to the successful relationship between dealers and their group, especially at a time when dealers face various barriers to success. He says: “The key challenges for dealers over the last couple of years have been based around understanding how to not only retain existing business but also develop new sales. Added to that

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

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INDUSTRY

DEALER GROUPS

has been the knowledge of new entrants, new buying patterns and pressures on margins. So, for the last three years we’ve been hard at work helping the willing dealers with sales and lead generation programmes. We’ve delivered new marketing tools to help analyse pricing, a cloud based tool to build individual and bespoke mailers for minimum cost.

We’ve added business planning, financial support with short term loans and introduced free sales academy days to build on the knowledge building at our annual sales conference.

“I believe groups, or their derivatives, should offer a wider perspective on what’s going on in our industry.

The key functions are in my opinion, collaboration, aggregation and generation. Groups need to play a key part in delivering substantial value for money to all members who wish to engage as we are in a unique position to add value to our members, not solely for profit, but mostly for growth and development.

“Some resellers will only see the deals, specifically the wholesale deals, and that’s not the true value in my opinion. We should be an ombudsman and an intermediary where support is lacking from other industry players.”

Measuring membership value Many dealers talk about how dealer groups can add value to their business, others say that it can add additional costs to their bottom line. So, how can dealers measure the return on investment (ROI) from their dealer group membership?

Haskell answers: “It all depends on the dealer – we have some members who value the stability of being in a dealer group and strong, flexible purchasing options.

Other members will tell you that our IT support has enabled them to save on resource. Others will say the Initiative own brand and Integra marketing programme differentiates them from their competitors, and some will say having a business development manager to help them utilise the services available is key. Our managed services have seen many members achieve sales with no additional resource and others have seen value from bespoke creative campaigns designed by Integra Creative which have opened new accounts.”

Geens adds: “Dealers typically measure the value of their dealer group membership in different ways.

Some measure the value of their membership by the terms and rebates they receive from suppliers, others measure value in terms of the marketing support they receive. Some value the information and knowledge they receive, but I believe the overall best measure of dealer group membership is the impact on the member’s bottom-line.”

Harrop echoes that view and adds: “Sometimes added value is in the eyes of the beholder, but we’ve delivered over £3.5 million back to members since 2003 in bonuses alone, another £500k in growth and I think all businesses should focus on the bottom line.

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NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

“My view on added value is that it’s the maintained relationship with suppliers, the aggregation of services and activity that most individual resellers would struggle to afford or deliver on a regular basis. I know we’ve also delivered financial help that is often overlooked by those who only see this value at the eleventh hour.

“In our industry, as in life generally, the delivered benefits over a number of years become overlooked, especially if you’re unable to provide innovative new ideas that can’t be measured or enthusiastically showcased. At Office Friendly we went through that malaise three to four years ago and we have now moved on, massively.”

“Dealers can measure the benefit in sales and profitability, but should then ascribe a value to the intangible benefits”

Added value Austen adds: “The real value-added benefits that a dealer group offers are both tangible and intangible; tangible benefits obviously include purchasing benefits, not just on product but on peripheral areas such as merchant services and carriage charges – dealers get a measurable ROI from us; professional differentiated marketing support for B2B and B2C, offline and online plus broad local support, which again offer measurable ROIs. “Intangible benefits include intellectual input, networking and training opportunities, legal and financial advice and so on. Dealers can measure the benefit in sales and profitability, but should then ascribe a value to the intangible benefits.

“For example, just a couple of our unique programmes include Club Access (which facilitates members’ access direct to manufacturers) and Brand Builders which allows members to really compete on big brands with aggressive promotions. Furthermore, as manufacturers/brand owners reduce their field presence, dealer groups have a critical role as a conduit for industry information.

“Increasingly, the two mainline wholesalers focus their resource on the 10% of their client base that generates 50% of their turnover through their partner programmes (and even then half of those dealers also see the benefit of additionally being members of a group) - other dealers should certainly join a

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INDUSTRY

DEALER GROUPS

provider. In the future, all dealers will need to provide remote management and hosted storage, backup, telephony and other services as part of their normal business mix. If they don’t, they will unquestionably miss out on a lot of potential business. We see our role as providing the stepping stones for dealers to enter the managed services market.”

a group or risk being increasingly isolated.”

Opportunity knocks One of the biggest benefits of dealer groups is that they can open doors for members into new market areas that they would be constrained from reaching themselves so easily.

Geens says: “What we do at Advantia is research the needs of our members’ customers, then find the right suppliers and products and we put in place the right logistics and the right marketing. We then equip our members with the right intelligence so they can sell with confidence with product and market knowledge and through our Business Builder training programme provide our members with the techniques to sell more to existing accounts and to acquire new business accounts.”

Derek Jones, MD of the tech-focused Synaxon UK, comments: “I think we have a vital role to play in enabling dealers to move in new directions – and others in which there are opportunities. At Synaxon, we have formed strong partnerships with key providers of managed services infrastructure, such as Autotask and GFI. They are at every event we run and we can provide members with a fast-track service to get them trained and operating as a managed service

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“We want to help them evolve and develop as the market changes and ensure they can offer clear and distinct value to their customers”

Future focus Looking forward, how will the dealer group service evolve over the coming months and years?

Jones says: “Our vision stretches well beyond a few months but in the short-term, we will be encouraging our members to adopt the ‘Sales through Service’ approach and we’ll continue to put a strong focus on the managed services opportunity. Behind all that, we will continue to provide the foundation services that enable members to buy better, sell more and reduce their costs.

“Our vision, on any timescale, is to support our members in the development and growth of their businesses. We want to help them evolve and develop as the market changes and ensure they can offer clear and distinct value to their customers and thus sustain their own growth and prosperity.”

Harrop adds: “The future of our industry is absolutely connected to the ability to adapt and change, but it’s been like that for 100 years and more, but only increased in intensity in more recent times.

The groups, as they stand today, are between 20-30 years old and we operate to different strengths and weaknesses. While some of the activities are similar, it’s those who really innovate and can bring their members on board with knowledgeable, enthusiastic and effective support who will be most successful.”

Finally, Austen says the future success of dealers and their groups is all about engagement. He says: “The key question to ask is how do groups get their members to engage with their programmes? When times are tough small businesses often tend to withdraw into their shells and try to become little islands. It’s their business and we absolutely respect their right to do that, but life would be better as part of an archipelago - collaboration always brings benefits. We’re pretty good at getting dealers to engage (but we always want more) but we believe that it is essential for dealers to truly invest in themselves and use the incredible range of support their group offers them.” DS

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INDUSTRY

VENDOR PROFILE Office Friendly

THE INTEGRATED APPROACH TO MARKETING At last month’s Office Friendly Annual conference the dealer group launched KascAid, a fully integrated managed marketing service designed specifically for office products resellers.

Austin Clark talks to Katie Metcalfe, head of marketing at Office Friendly, to find out more about the proposition

L

aunched to rapturous approval at Office Friendly’s conference last month, KascAid Marketing is the dealer group’s brand new fully-integrated managed marketing service for office products resellers.

Developed to build successful and profitable sales for resellers through focused marketing planning and integrated marketing tools and backed up by a fully qualified, youthful and enthusiastic marketing team, KascAid is being described by the resellers involved in its development as a real game changer.

Katie Metcalfe, Office Friendly’s head of marketing, explains: “KascAid has been optimised to provide maximum return on investment and is designed to reflect individual reseller and customer needs. A highly-skilled and trained team work on behalf of members to deliver powerful and effective marketing propositions to engage existing, lapsed and potential customers. KascAid implements integrated marketing campaigns using a unique suite of marketing tools including email marketing, bespoke mailers and flyers, telemarketing, website intelligence and social media – all at a fraction of the cost of resellers doing it themselves.”

As a reseller-focused initiative it was critical that the development of KascAid involved resellers, so a number of experienced Office Friendly members were drafted in to support the development and testing. WT Supplies has been a key pilot account and Mark Exley commented: “We’ve been using KascAid for about a year and can highly recommend the services. Using

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KascAid has been a huge time saver and advantage to us as we now have regular weekly targeted emails and are given a three-month marketing plan so that we have a clear strategy that align with our corporate objectives. The team is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic about marketing and has been great to work with. The managed marketing service is very flexible and we have been able to react quickly and creatively when specific deals have become available for us to take advantage of.”

Alex and Hannah were keen to tell members about KascAid at last month’s annual conference

The principles of KascAid One of the key objectives of KascAid is understanding what customers want to see and hear and preparing a relevant marketing plan accordingly. “As a longestablished dealer group, Office Friendly has a deep understanding of its members through regular visits from business development managers, conferences and networking events and focus groups, all of which enable us to identify KascAid’s target audience marketing wants and needs,” explains Metcalfe. “Each of the KascAid members has individual corporate and marketing goals, objectives and specific marketing budgets. To understand each individual KascAid members marketing needs they complete an online marketing audit which is used to create their tailored KascAid marketing plan.”

An integrated marketing campaign is then developed using the following suite of tools and techniques:

VENDOR PROFILE Office Friendly

•

• • • •

• •

•

•

Targeted prospect mail list that is based on an overall profile of existing customers using marketing intelligence software Data cleansing and segmentation of existing, lapsed and potential customers Bespoke product marketing using the awardwinning MaxePromo web solution Targeted bespoke email marketing is executed using the open platform MaxEmail system Email campaign management encourages targeted emails to specific customer segments and reports on open and click through rates Monthly Newsletters to keep members customers up to date with current news and offerings Integrated social media posts to support the marketing campaign using a variety of rich media from video content to relevant articles and blogs Bespoke, branded web banners for our KascAid members to use on their emails, website and Social Media platforms Website and email analytical software to monitor and track website traffic and engage prospects who show interest through their web platforms

campaign the utilised all available marketing tools to promote the latest bundle deal and engage customers.

“We have been able to react quickly and creatively when specific deals have become available”

Originality and creativity By fully managing and implementing integrated marketing campaigns through the unique Office Friendly marketing tools of MaxePromo and MaxEmails, as well as using social media platforms and creating engaging rich content, creative campaigns are developed utilizing numerous avenues: •

•

•

•

Rich media. To promote KascAid Office Friendly has worked with a third-party company to create a 90-second animated video full of colour, images and statements that capture audiences’ interest, increase understanding of the concept and personify the brand. Head to www. officefriendly.co.uk/marketing/kascaid-marketing to watch the video.

Social Media. Soft selling social media techniques are used to engage end-users on behalf of members. An example of this is by boosting posts of a member’s charity work, engaging with new contacts and getting them to support their work. The member then uses this warm lead to cross sell in their services.

Marketing plans. An individual bespoke marketing plan is created per KascAid member that delivers original and creative content throughout the quarter, all based on the marketing audit.

Promotional activity. Interactive marketing material that inspires engagement and product promotion is produced. For example, bespoke DYMO scratch cards were part of an integrated

Measuring success As with all reseller investment, it needs to show a return on investment. Metcalfe explains: “On a quarterly basis each KascAid member has a review meeting and is presented with a detailed marketing report of the analysis of the previous quarter including email statistics, social media reach and product promotional analysis. This document looks in depth in to the successes and failures from each key area of KascAid and provides recommendations for future activity.

“Key to KascAid is the integration of the full marketing mix. Through integrating a MaxePromo mailer, targeted e-shots, social media content and a telemarketing campaign for a KascAid member, a 75% increase in sales units of a key manufacturer’s notebooks was recorded, compared to the previous month. That’s a very welcome boost for any dealer, regardless of turnover.” DS

Meet the team Katie Metcalfe, head of marketing Metcalfe joined Office Friendly nine years ago after graduating from Sheffield Hallam University and heads up the marketing team after rising through the ranks. With a multitude of marketing qualifications behind her, Metcalfe organises the KascAid structure and strategic long-term vision and maintains and expands relationships with suppliers and provides marketing content with product knowledge support.

Hannah James, marketing co-ordinator Having recently graduated from Sheffield Hallam University with a 2:1 Honours degree in Marketing, Communications and Advertising, James specialises in being creative with design and relevant content and copywriting in order to generate brand awareness and promote products and services. James has a passion for social media and forward-thinking marketing and loves to write… she’s responsible for the monthly newsletters and regularly writes blogs.

Alex Stone, marketing co-ordinator An intern throughout the 2013-2014 academic year when he helped with marketing and environmental projects, Stone became a full-time member of the team in July this year. Also with a 2:1 Honours degree in Business and Marketing from Sheffield Hallam University, Stone specialises in customer relationships, reporting, analysis and web intelligence, vertical marketing, supplier relationships and social media.

Dominic Lawton, telemarketing agent

Katie Metcalfe E: kascaid@officefriendly.co.uk W: www.officefriendly.co.uk/ marketing/kascaid-marketing Twitter: @kascaid

Lawton joined Office Friendly as an apprentice 18 months ago and has developed enthusiasm about the industry and developed wide-ranging business skills and knowledge.

Lawton is working towards a Business Admin NVQ to add to his one in Customer Service. Lawton specialises in telemarketing and has made 100s of appointments for members and cleansed 1000s of databases.

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

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INDUSTRY

EVENT REVIEW - OFDA

OFDA Conference Spilling the beans on the wholesaler acquisitions At the recent OFDA Conference, a number of industry experts took to the stage to answer questions from delegates, including one about the takeover of office2office by Vasanta. Here’s what they had to say

How do the recent acquisitions by the leading wholesalers impact on independent dealers?

Gordon Profit, MD of Citrus Office Solutions and chairman of OFDA: There was an inevitability looking at wholesaler margins and it’s important for us dealers that our wholesalers are profitable. If that means they have to look at a proportion of business being end-user focused, I would prefer it was in their hands and not a major competitor as they can control price and ensure the marketplace is structured properly.

Historically we’ve had a structure of manufacturers, wholesalers, contract stationers, dealer groups, dealers and retailers. For a long time this model has needed to change as the traditional side of the

“The deal sweats the sheds more and adds operating efficiency” industry contracted. Some 25 years ago we invented the new structure in response to the market then. That model is starting to falling apart, so clearly we have to change again. Bringing together the contract stationers and the wholesalers has the ability to improve the industry for all.

Adrian Butler, MD of VOW: One of the key points from a Vasanta point of view is that there are four very clear pillars in terms of three to five year plan, including boosting operating efficiency and volume and taking share where we’re weak. The acquisition of office2office (o2o) fits right in with the strategy. The deal sweats the sheds more and adds operating efficiency, it adds reseller services and complements what we already

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have, and still fits in with our strategy of supporting resellers without conflicting, other than in a very few grey areas.

Is there a difference in approach between what the two wholesalers are doing?

Adrian Butler: Going back to our plan, we had an organic plan which took us to £450m to £500m. Sitting alongside that was a mergers and acquisitions plan that complements the business. There are bolt-ons that fit into the business strategy and then there are transformational mergers and acquisitions, which o2o is. Over capacity and consolidation is going to be key over the next three to five years so this deal fits for us.

Michael Gardner, chief executive of BOSS Federation: The major difference is that o2o have an agreement with Advantia so have experience of making a relationship like this work. The concern for this industry is that the contract stationers may start looking at the larger dealers and want a share of that market. Providing the guidelines from these deals protect dealers and contract stationers and the wholesalers understand those guidelines, it can work. When lines start to blur the industry will feel the effects.

Was there one key element that was the driving factor behind the Vasanta purchase of o2o?

Adrian Butler: When you review the o2o business, a lot of their sales are into the public sector, they have a few very big corporate accounts and they have some very neat services that Advantia tap into, such as the final mile, which we want to do. That brings volume and adds services such as closed loop paper solutions that fit with resellers and makes it a useful acquisition that adds value. DS

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INDUSTRY

QUESTION TIME Chris Scott

IN THE HOT SEAT Chris Scott, MD of DAMS Furniture, tells Austin Clark why this year has been a good one for the company and explains what the company is doing to help OP dealers in the furniture marketplace

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NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

QUESTION TIME Chris Scott

How has 2014 been for you?

The first word that springs to mind is ‘busy’. After a successful year in 2013 and the positive impact of last year’s roadshow programme, we were gearing up for growth this year but it has surpassed even our ambitious targets.

We started the year with new offices, a new showroom and a new upholstery department. Since then we’ve launched our recycling department and announced a steel storage partnership with Bisely that includes DAMS supplying the company’s steel storage range in the UK and Bisley acting as a distributor for us in Ireland.

As a result of all of this our business has grown by 23% in 2014, we’ve added 25 new people to the team and our customer base is growing too.

It’s all really positive news for DAMS and a good indicator of the overall market too. As a UK manufacturer, we’re seeing a real appetite for buying British and having an accountable supply chain and that’s one of the reasons why we’re expanding our range significantly next year to offer wider choice, particularly for the mid-market.

Have your roadshows been a success this year?

The response has been fantastic. We added an extra venue this year and we’ve still been full to capacity at each location.

We’re delighted with the enthusiastic response to the new product ranges, especially the new seating collection we launched at the roadshows… there’s no substitute for meeting people face-to-face and showing them the products ‘in the flesh’ and the roadshows provide the perfect opportunity to do that.

What trends are you noticing in the furniture sector?

Customers expect more choice than ever before, and there has to be a degree of personalisation in terms of how the office interior looks, which means that manufacturers and dealers need to be able to offer a wide range with options for customisation.

That emphasis on choice extends to the colour palette and we’re seeing that trends in furniture design are mirroring trends in consumer electronics. So, while there is still high demand for traditional neutral wood finishes, monotone is a big story in office furniture and brights are also becoming popular.

Changes in technology are also influencing office furniture design; for example, bench desking is the usual choice for contemporary offices because it’s an ideal layout for collaborative working and hot desking.

Are more dealers offering furniture to customers than in the past? Why is that?

We’re definitely seeing more dealers offering office furniture as part of their service – times have been tough

over the past few years and diversification is one of the ways in which dealers have tackled the challenges of the marketplace. It offers a new route into the market and as a big ticket item it can be a profitable addition to a dealer’s range.

We know that more dealers are selling furniture because we’re now supplying many more dealers than we used to. Our customer base represents around 30% of the dealers in the marketplace.

“Customers expect more choice than ever before and there has to be a degree of personalisation in terms of how the office interior looks”

Is furniture an easy sell?

Calling furniture an easy sell would be to oversimplify the market but it is certainly an easier sell than it has been in the recent past and there is an opportunity now for dealers to put forward a clear business case for investing in office furniture.

For DAMS’ dealers, that business case centres around the quality and durability that we can offer at an attractive price, which means that the end user can expect a longer service life. They can also expect furniture that is tailored to their needs, whether that’s colour-matched to their interior thanks to our upholstery department or providing a space-saving solution thanks to innovative design.

We’re there to support dealers every step of the way with product quality, fast turnaround on deliveries, excellent service, marketing materials and promotions to make the sales process easier for them and the buying experience smoother for the end user.

Do dealers need a furniture showroom to maximise sales?

While a showroom can help dealers to demonstrate product quality, internet shopping has made end users much more comfortable with choosing a product without actually seeing it ‘in the flesh’.

It’s up to furniture suppliers to provide good marketing materials that demonstrate what products look like in the workplace to help dealers overcome the need for a showroom and it’s up to dealers themselves to build relationships with their customers that are built on trust.

The majority of the UK manufacturers have a showroom presence and we would always encourage our customers to utilise our showroom space.

Combining our manufacturing facility and warehouse tour strengthens the sales process.

What sales advice can you offer dealers when selling furniture?

Any sale process starts with asking the right questions and offering honest, expert advice. The end user is not the expert so it’s up to the dealer to suggest solutions that will meet their requirements and he can only do that if he understands their workplace holistically – what are their main challenges? Space? Productivity? Flexibility?

Once the dealer has an understanding of the

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

23

INDUSTRY

QUESTION TIME Chris Scott

office environment, and where a potential investment in office furniture fits into the customer’s plans, the dealer can then suggest a suitable approach – upselling where there’s an opportunity to do so.

The market is healthy at the moment and working together can ensure that dealers maximise their sales and revenue which will have a positive impact across the delivery chain.

Do you think the outlook is positive for the overall office products dealer sector?

The general upturn in the economy is filtering through to the office products sector and furniture, in particular, has benefitted from that trend. Lots of companies are gearing up for a post-recession boom and revamping the office interior is a key element in attracting staff, retaining good people and demonstrating business confidence to their own customers.

How can they help?

Providing better marketing materials that can be tailored to the dealer’s individual requirements is key.

Suppliers can also help with better integration of their systems to aid more efficient data flow and can support dealers by enabling them to utilise the resources of their supply chain partners to offer a better, slicker service to end users.

What’s your view on Vasanta and Spicers acquiring office2office and Office Team?

It’s part of a general trend towards consolidation in the marketplace and, while it’s clearly been driven by a tactical approach to increasing their order book, I believe it’s a smart move for both of them that will strengthen their positions.

As consolidation in the marketplace continues dealers will have decisions to make about how to develop their business; selecting suppliers on the basis of what advantages specific relationships offer in terms of dealer support, product quality and innovation will be critical.

What pressures are dealers facing and what are their main threats?

The market is more buoyant but it remains competitive and the price-based sales models that have been driven by necessity over the past few years will be a hard habit to break.

Dealers also face competition from high street retailers, national commercial stationers and ever increasing online retailers, such as Amazon. All of these competitors offer value for money, short lead times and greater choice… but they do not provide the personalised services and expert advice offered by an independent dealer.

How can dealers overcome them?

Dealers need to leverage relationships and offer a value-added service by helping their customers to specify their interior rather than simply buying some office furniture on an ad hoc basis.

They also need to work closely with furniture manufacturers to ensure that market-driven product development is a collaborative process; one of the most valuable elements of the roadshow programme for us is gaining feedback from dealers about what the market wants. In return, our dealers can rely on us to offer them the quality, style and functionality that their customers are looking for.

Do you think dealers need to diversify into more different product groups?

Individual dealers’ sales strategies should be driven by their business model. For those that sell small quantities of a diverse product range diversity is part of their USP; conversely, some dealers have worked hard to establish a niche as a furniture specialist and diversifying could dilute that ‘specialist’ positioning.

Would you like to see the wholesalers and dealer groups doing more to support their dealer customers?

The most positive outcomes for the sector come about as a result of co-operation and collaborative working.

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“A personal approach is a key USP for any dealer because customers want to buy from individuals they trust”

How do you think the dealer sector will develop over the coming months and years?

The office products market remains overcrowded and highly competitive, which has led a growing number of dealers to join dealer groups, allowing them to free up their own resources and enabling them to get out and sell.

A personal approach is a key USP for any dealer because customers want to buy from individuals they trust. It’s impossible to build a personal rapport with customers if all your time and energy is tied up with office admin, managing warehouses and controlling a vast supplier base, so I expect to see a rise in the number of dealers joining dealer groups with lots more dealer acquisitions on the horizon on both a regional and a national scale.

What can dealers expect to see from DAMS in 2015?

There will be more growth from DAMS in 2015 as we build on what’s been achieved in 2014 and continue to invest in our production facilities, our team and our service infrastructure. We have enlisted the help of guest designers to help us create our new seating collection and we will continue to use both our in-house team and carefully selected partners to develop products that keep pace with, and anticipate, trends while answering customer requirements for quality and style at an affordable price. DS

Securing a print infrastructure through excellent partnerships “When installing office printers, copiers and MFPs, businesses are increasingly focussing on network security, information control and document management”; says Olivetti Product Marketing and Sales Development Manager, Wayne Snell.

Systems of authentication installed on each machine enable individual users to access print jobs via a contactless card or a personal pin number and Administrators or the IT Manager to monitor usage and print volumes.

Authentication can be perceived as a complicated process, especially when faced with a multi-vendor fleet. Customer concerns are wide ranging, from managing multiple invoices and having to negotiate pricing with each vendor; calling on different people every time support is required on their authentication systems, with variances between the level of analysis and reporting that each manufacturer supplies; and managing licences on a ‘per person’ basis, which have to be updated each time there is a staff change.

Management Model

Olivetti’s Managed Print Services and Solutions provide a complete printing infrastructure management model for a wide range of mono and colour printers and multifunctional products and are designed to satisfy a company’s entire printing needs. We work in partnership with major world-leading OEMs and software partners, such as YSoft and Open Bee, to provide a ‘one-stopshop’ solution for customers with one point of contact and one invoice for support and reporting.

Best for Solutions

Y Soft, provides scalable print system management solutions that enable businesses to control costs, reduce waste, increase convenience for users and have a positive effect on the environment. While Open Bee, provides an advanced scanning solution with full document archiving capabilities which can be embedded into the Olivetti range of A3 colour MFPs as a seamless front-end to a customers’ document archiving workflow.

The Y Soft SafeQ5 solution provides Security, Print and Access Management with Monitoring and Reporting across all products, regardless of the parent OEM. This server based solution is sold on a transparent ‘per device’ licence which means that a licence can move to another device and keeps the pricing structure flexible.

The Olivetti / Y Soft solution is only available through fully trained authorised partners and we have already begun the process of selecting appropriate dealers, regionally around the UK, to apply to become fully authorised and qualified as part of the Olivetti “Best for Solutions” Programme which has been set up to offer an easy way for customers to purchase solutions and have them maintained.

“Best for Solutions” dealers provide first tier support to end users which includes an initial consultation such as system and environment scoping; product demonstration, detailed explanation of the reporting, analysis and support schedules; installation and customer training.

For more details contact: Abi Stafford on 01908 547896; a.stafford@olivetti.com www.olivetti.co.uk

Bedfordshire based 2r Systems were the first Olivetti Dealer to achieve ‘“Best for Solutions”’ status and are now Olivetti’s Authorised Solutions representative for the Home Counties.

2r Systems’ Managing Director, Richard Finch (pictured left), said “Being awarded “Best for Solutions” means that Olivetti’s smaller dealers have an equal opportunity to support the Olivetti products to the highest possible standard. We have already successfully installed Y Soft solutions packages into brand new local customers, on the strength of the excellence of the product and our “Best for Solutions” status.” www.2rsystems.com

INDUSTRY

EVENT REVIEW - ADVANTIA

SHUT UP, MOVE ON

At the Advantia Conference last month, the dealer group’s CEO, Bob Geens, opened the event with a speech that was all about how the industry needs to “shut up and move on”. Austin Clark shares some of the key points from that presentation

W

hen Advantia’s CEO, Bob Geens, opened the dealer group’s conference with the lines “shut up, move on”, plenty in the audience were looking at each other wondering what was coming next. What did follow was a speech that seemed to perfectly encapsulate an all too common issue within the office products sector – too many people, including those at the top, getting bogged down in minutiae that really has little bearing on the direction of business.

“I mean it in the nicest possible way,” said Geens.

“Maybe it’s because I’m getting old and impatient, but I’m really fed up of people whinging that the price of

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paperclips is a penny too much. There are far more important things to worry about so I decided to steal the catchphrase of our keynote speaker, Paul McGee, and use shut up, move on as the theme for my presentation. There are lots of people who want to move their businesses forward, so it seemed fitting.”

Geens then went on to talk about product mix change and how it’s impacting on the industry, consolidation in the market, which of course is very relevant at the moment, and new entrants to the OP marketplace.

An evolving product mix Geens started by taking a look at the top-selling products through Advantia dealers. While

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For more information contact North Tel: 0870 607 3136 Fax: 0870 607 3178 office.n@antalis.co.uk

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Midlands Tel: 0870 607 3136 Fax: 0870 607 3178 office.m@antalis.co.uk

South West Tel: 0870 607 3132 Fax: 0870 607 3171 office.sw@antalis.co.uk

Antalis Key Accounts Tel: 01530 517 200 Fax: 01530 517 127 keyaccounts@antalis.co.uk

antalis.co.uk

INDUSTRY

EVENT REVIEW - ADVANTIA

traditional office products were in the list, so too were ‘new’ groups such as catering products and technology.

“However, despite the economy starting to recover, traditional stationery is still an area in decline,” commented Geens. “Yes, the rate of decline has slowed to around 4% from closer to 10% last year, but it confirms that it wasn’t just the recession affecting us.

Then there’s paper. Last year there was a 5% decline in sales volumes. This year we’re expecting a similar drop and the same is being predicted for next year, so a big chunk of our traditional market is suffering from decline. EOS is no better. Research suggests that volumes are going down as well which, given the reduction in paper volumes, is to be expected.

“My question to dealers is, what does that do to your turnover? My guess is that it’s a pretty big chunk of business that has gone or is at risk, even in a growing economy. That’s why dealers need to move on.

“The next question is where to? A lot is said about FM and there is massive growth available for dealers as we’re new to the market. However, when I talk to those specialists in the sector I’m told that the overall market is flat, so we need to be aware that it’s not a growing market. Instead, we need to be looking at areas such as catering and promotional merchandise, where there is growth and where industry dynamics are similar to ours. I’m not saying dealers can ignore the traditional areas as there’s big money out there.

But, those traditional products are the defence strategy – growth strategies need to include new products groups and sectors.”

Consolidation and new entrants Geens looked at how all levels of the industry, from manufacturers to dealers, are coming together, focusing on the Spicers and Vasanta acquisitions of Office Team and office2office, respectively. “Put simply, the wholesalers can’t make traditional wholesaling, in its purest sense, profitable. Dealers and those in the same sphere as them need to recognise that we’ve been pretty much protected over the years in a very structured market. Look at other OP markets around the world and you’ll see that often the wholesalers are the contract stationers as well. We have to accept that if we want the channel to support us, it might have to be on different terms, with different rules of engagement. That can also create opportunities if dealers and dealer groups make it work – once again it’s about shutting up and moving on!”

Geens then identified how ‘outsiders’ to the industry such as Amazon, Shoplet and, looking ahead, Alibaba, can impact on dealer businesses. “In a market that’s not growing we have these new entrants taking market share,” he explained. “Amazon is the fastest growing supplier of office products in the UK and, for many manufacturers, their biggest customer. Dealers have to be aware of that threat. How have they grown? Through

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“We have to accept that if we want the channel to support us, it might have to be on different terms, with different rules of engagement”

product choice and content – it’s so easy to select the product you want and understand what it is, which makes it easy to buy. Most importantly though, they have an ethos where they will improve before they have to. Sometimes dealers have to be dragged along. We can’t always be an Amazon, but it would be great if we were all more willing to move on. Consumers are changing the way they buy. The workforce today is now more tech savvy and wants to do more and more online, including in business. If dealers don’t move with the times those customers will be lost forever.”

Threat or an opportunity “Consumers are changing the way they buy and what they buy,” continued Geens. “Is that a threat or an opportunity for dealers? Well, if you don’t do anything to change it’s a threat and business will drift away.

However, there’s a huge opportunity for those dealers prepared to shut up, move on and get on with it. There are new markets, new products to sell, new customers to sell products and services to. Existing customers can be developed – until every purchase a customer makes is through you, there’s still business to be won, with plenty of help available through the industry for those prepared to help themselves.”

Geens concluded by saying: “The only thing we can guarantee is that change will continue to happen.

We can’t predict what the future holds but we can prepare to change. Dealers who want to prosper will have to change and probably faster than ever before.

So, it’s time to shut up and move on!” DS

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INDUSTRY

PAPER TALK

ADDING VALUE

TO PAPER Earlier this year Double A resumed production of the Evolve range of 100% recycled paper at its Alizay Mill in France.

Austin Clark travelled to France to catch up with Thirawit Leetavorn, Double A’s senior executive vice president, to find out more about the relaunch of Evolve and the company’s plans for growth in the UK

W

hen Double A purchased the Normandy-based Alizay Mill in 2013 many people in the industry wondered if the giant Thai pulp and premium paper manufacturer could make a success of the facility; nearly two years after the purchase deal was completed it would appear that it’s a case of ‘so far, so good’.

Following substantial investment in the site 150 members of staff are now being employed, production levels are racing up towards the 300,000 tonne capacity, paper milled at the site is being exported around the world and pulp production is set to restart in the first half of 2015. Plus, as reported in July, production of the Evolve brand, Alizay Mill’s 100% recovered paper, has restarted.

Thirawit Leetavorn, Double A’s senior executive vice president and the man responsible for the growth of the Alizay Mill, says: “The resumption of Evolve production is significant because the paper invented the category for high white, 100% recycled paper. It was the first of its kind and really changed the perception of what recycled paper was like. That’s why Double A committed to resuming production during its purchase of the Alizay Mill. Evolve enriches Double A’s range of premium quality paper and confirms its environmental position.”

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Leetavorn confirms that the UK, along with France, is a key market for Evolve, which has always been well-received by environmentally conscious end-users and corporations. As a result, plenty of work is being put in to ensure dealers are aware of the products available through Double A’s UK distributors, namely PaperlinX, The Aims Group and NU:CO. “VOW and Spicers will be added to that list in 2015,” confirms Peter Seaton, Double A’s channel development executive. “All will have access to Evovle, as well as the Double A brand, and we’ll be introducing a full range of paper weights to meet demand from the market on both Double A and Evolve.”

The paper equivalent of Coca-Cola The purchase of the Alizay Mill perfectly highlights the ambition of Double A, with Leetavorn making the claim that he wants the company to be “the paper equivalent of Coca-Cola”.

“We need to get the distribution in place,” he explains. “Once that’s sorted out we will go to the market with a promotional campaign that will aim to build brand awareness and position Double A is a premium quality paper and Evolve is a paper manufactured from a 100% recovered fibre allowing high quality everyday printing on a high white, smooth paper with a high opacity. We want our brands to be the first people think of when they

PAPER TALK

need to buy paper – and to be regarded as the best they can buy.”

Various marketing and media campaigns are already in place around the world, with star appearances by the likes of Psy – of Gangnam Style fame – and TV ad campaigns highlighting how “paper is not the same”. The recent TV ad campaign resulted in 75% of the population viewing the commercial three or more times. It’s this investment that is seeing Double A return consistent sales growth and is one of the reasons why Leetavorn is so confident about the company seeing a successful return on its investment at Alizay.

“It’s important to point out here that Double A will continue to invest in our brands and will spend to create value in the market,” comments Leetavorn.

“We’re not going to simply reduce the price of paper.

Let’s not jump off the cliff, let’s add value.”

Sustainable approach The Evolve brand paper reinforces Double A‘s commitment in favour of the development of a sustainable paper industry. Indeed, Double A is at the heart of an innovative approach based on the utilization of “Khan-Na” - vacant spaces around and between Thai farmer’s rice fields used for planting trees - bringing the best value out of these empty spaces, which would otherwise be unused and

“We’re not going to simply reduce the price of paper - let’s not jump off the cliff, let’s add value”

thereby avoiding the need to draw on natural forest resources.

“By developing our own eucalyptus tree that has been branded ‘Double A Paper Tree’, and utilising Khan-Na, we can keep control of our costs and ensure that there is a constant supply of top quality pulp for all of our mills in Thailand and Alizay,” explains Leetavorn. “The tree delivers a pulp with up to 30 million fibres per gram. That, along with a modern milling machine and a seriously talented 150-strong workforce, ensures we produce a consistently high quality paper.”

Consistent to Double A’s unique properties of premium quality and sustainable paper, the Evolve brand is made to the same exacting production standards as Double A. This paper production technology produces paper that has smooth surface for “No Jam” copying, superior paper sheet formation and better opacity.

Leetavorn concludes by saying: “The Alizay Mill acquisition in January 2013 has enabled us to reinforce Double A’s standing in Europe while answering our European clients’ expectations. We are proud to celebrate a mill which combines machine modernity and great performance with skilled and committed workers. This success confirms our development strategy in Europe, which is a key market for Double A’s growth.” DS

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

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INDUSTRY

VENDOR PROFILE

THE SEVEN PILLARS OF FOCUSED GROWTH XPD is launching an all-new, wholesaler and dealer group agnostic business growth programme called Focus7.

Austin Clark spoke to David Langdown, XPD’s MD, to find out more

I

n a time of consolidation and change within the office products sector, XPD has decided that, for some dealers, the traditional dealer group offering is not enough. As a result, it has launched Focus7, a business growth programme aimed at all independent dealers, regardless of

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wholesaler, market sector or dealer group membership.

As the name suggests, the Focus7 service has been developed to take those who sign up on a journey through seven elements of business development. The end goal of the programme is, as MD David Langdown puts it, “to help dealers achieve considerable growth”.

VENDOR PROFILE

“We do this by encouraging dealers to visualise the future for their business and, by creating and implementing unique managed marketing solutions, enable them to reach their targets,” he adds.

“For us, Focus7 represents a shift in our model. If you think of XPD in its traditional sense operating dealer groups, we’ve always aligned our programmes with specific wholesalers. The supply chain challenges this year have encouraged us to identify how we can best support independent dealers irrespective of where they buy or indeed, what they sell. So, with Focus7, we’ve created a programme that is not based around any particular wholesaler and, in fact, it’s not even based around the office products sector. It works equally well for a business focusing on FM, IT or even completely unrelated sectors like car supplies or financial services. It doesn’t matter what the product is because it’s a marketing communications and business development programme that will work without setting any constraints. And Focus7 is not an attack on other dealer groups, we’re happy to offer it to all dealers, even those in other groups.”

Langdown continues: “Focus7 is a long-term business development programme which supports the dealer through growth and takes a holistic view of their entire business. As the name suggests, there are seven modules in the programme which form a continuous loop across the year. We start with a business valuation and audit that sets the platform for the rest of the modules, which we’ll run through and implement over a 12-month period. At the end of that the dealer returns to the valuation and goes around the loop again.”

The seven pillars of Focus7 (more details can be found at www.xpdfocus7.co.uk) are: • Business audit • Strategic planning • Brand analysis development and implementation • Online and offline marketing • Telemarketing and campaign management • Corporate and contract accounts • Training and mentoring The Focus7 service is totally bespoke, meaning dealers can choose to complete the whole journey or simply cherry pick the modules that they feel will help them the most. Within that, the programme that the Focus7 team is customised for each individual dealer. “We don’t want to dictate to dealers, it’s their business! We offering flexibility because each business is different and therefore each business development programme must be too,” explains Langdown. “As I said before, we’re introducing a business growth programme for any reseller, regardless of group, wholesaler or sector.”

“The supply chain challenges this year have encouraged us to identify how we can best support independent dealers irrespective of where they buy or indeed, what they sell”

Tel: 01757 213622 Twitter: @XPDFocus7 www.xpdfocus7.co.uk

Ready to go XPD has been building the elements of the Focus7 programme since April and the full programme is now ready to go live. XPD will be launching Focus7 through a series of roadshows at the end of November and beginning of December in Paisley, Yorkshire, Bristol, Birmingham and London, with more dates to possibly be added. The roadshows will be hosted by the Focus7 Team supported by Performance 1st, the programme’s training partner.

Investment has been made in telemarketing, writing and design staff to ensure that side of the business is as strong as it needs to be and dealers are provided with the highest levels of support. Tried and tested software/ online systems have also been purchased. On the business audit side XPD FairValue provides access to live business valuation knowledge, while FocusPoint is a bespoke campaign management software that combines CRM, email marketing and lead capture in one single framework.

When asked who the ideal Focus7 dealer is and how many dealers he’s aiming to sign up, Langdown answers: “We’re targeting dealers across the UK and, because it’s flexible, we can aim for dealers of most sizes, although those with spend of £350k or more at wholesale level are ideal. I would like to have a dozen signed up by Christmas, with 50 to 60 eventually on board. The programme, from XPD’s point of view, is completely expandable. We already have the team to manage what needs to be done as we’ve been successfully working on similar initiatives with our Elite Dealers. Those people have the skillsets that can be passed on to additional new members of staff when needed. We’ll never recruit more dealers than we can manage to the levels that we expect to offer. We don’t want to sign up every dealer in the UK – we’re looking to work with those that have a genuine desire to grow and are prepared to invest in and commit to a full 12-month strategy. After that, we’ll go back to step one to see the impact Focus7 has had on their business value and demonstrate the return on investment.”

Langdown concludes by saying: “This is a new model for the industry. It offers a one-to-one approach that is way beyond what a dealer group can offer. Every element of Focus7 is uniquely created and implemented for each dealer and that is reflected in the costs of the programme, which the dealer must bear. Because it’s not a dealer group offering, there are no wholesaler of supplier rebates to rely on, the dealer pays but the effects and the return on investment are easy to see. Let the dealer buy where he wants at the best possible price and invest in the future growth of his business. It’s as simple as that.” DS

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

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PEOPLE

DEALER PROFILE The Roman Group

The Roman Group has continued to grow throughout the recession and now, to ensure continuing improvement, is moving into additional areas of business such as copiers, MPS and furniture, all with the organisation’s usual friendly approach. Austin Clark spoke to MD Tony Baker to find out more

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DEALER PROFILE The Roman Group

W

hen Tony Baker purchased The Roman Group he had no idea that, 18 years later, he would have sold £75m worth of office products and print services through a business that has grown every year. Annual turnover has doubled in that time, the number of staff has increased along with the number of branches, with more products and services offered to clients than ever before.

“Roman Press, the original side of the business, was founded back in 1938 by Ronald Man, which is where the Roman name comes from,” explains Baker, “so when I took over 18 years ago there was a solid history behind the company. I was originally asked to come across from another office supplies company to set up a stationery and supplies division at Roman, which I agreed to do on the proviso that if I made it work I could buy it.

After five years I bought the family out and the rest, as the saying goes, is history.”

As mentioned earlier, turnover has doubled over the last 18 years. Baker says: “Growth has mainly been through the office supplies side as print has remained stagnant, which I’m actually alright about as most printers have gone backwards or bust.

We’ve grown office supplies through acquisition – we’ve bought six smaller businesses over the years and merged them into the Roman Group, creating branches in Bridport and Hastings to support the existing Bournemouth HQ, which means we can cover the whole of the south coast. We’ve also grown organically through different services such as furniture, copiers and MPS, and the recruitment of additional sales staff. Plus there has been plenty of hard graft along the way!”

A friendly place to be Baker sees staff retention as a vitally important cog in the running of a successful dealer. “One of our strengths is definitely staff retention,” he says, “which is great because you don’t have to worry about attracting new staff. We have a really great, dedicated team of people including 13 people who were with me when I bought the business. I would like to think that staff hang around because we’re such a friendly, nice company to work for.

I’d be surprised if it’s the money!”

The Roman Group likes to look after people, internally and externally. “We pride ourselves on our friendliness, we’re flexible, we like to look after people, we’re family-orientated and get to know our customers,” explains Baker. “We try to be ethical, we try to be environmentally-friendly, we try to be nice and we try to be charitable. We achieve three of those and are working on the environmental side but it’s more difficult. We’re in a demand culture so as much as we want to be environmentally-friendly with what we do, the demand from customers dictates our behaviour.

We’re in business to make money so if a customer wants a

I would like to think that staff hang around because we’re such a friendly, nice company to work for – I’d be surprised if it’s the money

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

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PEOPLE

DEALER PROFILE The Roman Group

Tony Baker (second from left) with his family

We’re in business to make money so if a customer wants a specific product or service in a certain way it’s not always easy to look after the planet specific product or service in a certain way it’s not always easy to look after the planet.”

Baker explains that the charitable side has been a real boon for the company and staff are encouraged to do charitable work or complete a challenge for charity that the company gets behind. “My daughter rafted down the Zambezi, a couple of others here did a skydive and we had a guy who completed a cycle challenge. They are supported by money raised through our toner and inkjet recycling scheme, which we operate with Clover Environmental. We recycled over 11,000 empties last year and expect to be giving £6k to charity this year through the scheme. The PR we get out of our charity work is brilliant – customers really respond to it.”

Friendly dealer group Continuing the friendly theme, The Roman Group is a member of Office Friendly. Baker explains: “We joined them originally because we wanted a buying group that could give us better terms with Kingfield, as it was then. We got the benefit of that for two years, but we wanted something more than a buying group, and eventually joined Peter Frost’s Office Smart,

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which was a proper marketing group which is where we wanted to be. Even then he was into selling more to the same people, which nobody really got as we were all running around searching for new business. His philosophy was, when you’re in a business they must be buying toilet rolls, shredding services and toner or fax rolls. What was said then is ingrained in the way we do business and it’s interesting to see how the rest of the industry is now catching up. It’s also interesting to see that Office Friendly have got to the upper end of that with their new KasCaid marketing tool, which is exactly what we need, as we need to link social media, marketing emails and everything else we do together.”

Baker re-joined Office Friendly when Steve Harrop took over on the proviso that he had some input into the association. Harrop invited Baker onto the board, a position he has held ever since.

“It has been great for our business,” explains Baker. “It gives us the opportunity to get hold of outside services that I would have to go and pay big money for. And even then there’s no guarantee they would understand our industry.

Office Friendly, on the other hand, is putting the services in place, at really reasonable prices because the costs are spread over many dealers, led by people with industry knowledge.

That makes a big difference. For example, VOW started a shredding service with Iron Mountain but it was too complex with big bins in warehouses and offices that people didn’t want.

So, Office Friendly and its members got together and devised a simpler bag-based solution for end-users that is really flying. All because we came at it with industry-led knowledge.”

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DEALER PROFILE The Roman Group

New areas of business The Roman Group’s impressive growth is due, in large parts, to an ability to identify and then successfully move into new areas. Furniture is one such area where Baker identified growth potential that utilised the skills of a salesperson already in the business.

“We started our furniture drive six years ago,” says Baker. “An existing member of sales staff working on office products had the ability and knowledge to sell furniture, but only when it was asked for. So, we shifted all enquiries about furniture from our other sales execs across to him and, from that, we found a massive uptake in completed orders, value of orders and greater customer satisfaction in that we were selling them the right stuff, not just what was in the catalogue.

“The MPS division has only been going 18 months but we’re just about to break £250,000 on it, targeting the contract work available. We were conscious that companies were looking at MPS, so it was a case of get on board or let somebody else take the business. It’s interesting to see, now that we have a proper salesperson who has been in that business for over 10 years, that MPS is always mentioned but we don’t always sell a true MPS service. Often we end up selling a way around MPS that keeps the customer happy and suits us. There are still plenty of traditional printer sales out there but you need to sell it in the right way and show that you can save them money by selling the right machine for their needs. The important thing is flexibility and we can deal with large-format print, desktop sales, MPS and the bigger MFDs if we want.”

Other areas that Baker says are strong, outside of traditional office supplies, include janitorial, which the business moved in to through the acquisition of

CV ANNUAL TURNOVER: £4.6m GROSS MARGIN: 30% NO STAFF: 41 WHOLESALER: VOW DEALER GROUP: OFDA NO OF VANS ON THE ROAD: 8 BACK OFFICE: Pulse

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The south coast area that we cover has a lot of small cafes and restaurants so we do a lot of serviettes, burger boxes, plastic takeaway boxes and even sausage skins a specialist business. “The south coast area that we cover has a lot of small cafes and restaurants so we do a lot of serviettes, burger boxes, plastic takeaway boxes and even sausage skins!” says Baker. “The sausage skins were a natural extension for us as we were already selling meat wraps and burger boxes

NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

into butchers. They asked us if we could get them so naturally we said yes!”

Brand appeal As a dealer, Baker is a strong supporter of brand names. “Brands haven’t been so important, especially during the recession, but definitely over the last two years they’ve returned to the forefront of business,” he says. “When people talk brands they immediately go BIC, Rexel etc, but one of the main brands for us these days is Q-Connect and that is because there’s quality in the products. I’m sure the same is said about 5-Star.

“Brand is exactly where we want to be. We don’t want to be selling anything else as its important products work and you’re not worried about quality. Customer satisfaction is crucial. As an industry we need an identity, which doesn’t come from a load of white box products that nobody knows anything about. It needs to be branded, colourful, loved and wanted – people do get obsessed by stationery. Get a pink stapler into an office and the next thing you’ll see is an order for ten of them because everyone wants one.”

Future focus Looking to the future, Baker wants to see the company’s steady growth continue. “We want to continue working with the same type of businesses that we’re working with now. We expect to grow the copier division faster than any other and furniture will enjoy accelerated growth. Once that starts growing it means the economic recovery is properly in full swing. I don’t expect to see growth in the traditional office products area as it’s going to be very hard to pull prices up.

“In five years’ time we are looking to hit the £6m mark, but as along as everybody is happy, we’re making money and we can all stay friends, it’ll do me. I’ve got no grand desires to take over the world like I did 18 years ago – it means more to enjoy what you’re doing. If West Ham make the Champions League I’ll be even happier!” DS

Regien Paassen / Shutterstock.com

PEOPLE

Get

Switched on Friday 23 January 2015 rd

PEOPLE

60 SECONDS WITH...

.. . h t i w onds

60 Sec

Mike

s r e d Stran

This month Mike Stranders, vice president, EMEA marketing at Acco Brands, tells us why product development is vital to ongoing success and how dealers can deal with consolidation within the industry

What does your job involve?

I wear two hats in my role. I’m responsible for the whole of the European marketing team at Acco and also look after global product development of our business machines categories, which includes binding, shredding and laminating. With the latter, I look after a team of engineers in a ‘centre of excellence’ based in the UK. The marketing role involves product, channel and brand marketing activities as well as pricing and all other aspects of marketing. A team of 60 here at Acco report up through me.

What’s the best day’s work you’ve ever done?

If you work in marketing, the best day you can have is when you get hold of a piece of marketing insight that allows you to get a competitive advantage. Days when I’ve reviewed market research or someone has had a ‘Eureka moment’ that allows us to get ahead are very good days.

Days when we launch products into the marketplace are also great days as 12 to 18 months of hard work is realised.

What’s the best office product ever invented?

The Apple products are superb in terms of making them very intuitive.

I’ve read Steve Jobs’ autobiography and he was a very brave man in terms of his philosophy when he said “the consumer doesn’t know what they want until you give it to them”. I talk about market insight being a great thing but in a way he determined what the insight was going to be, rather than the other way round. It was a risky approach but it worked for him. From our point of view here, we’re very proud of our Rexel auto feed shredders.

Why does product development matter so much to Acco?

In order to maintain our premium brand position, we have to differentiate

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our product offering and have brands that consumers are willing to pay a premium price for. Only by meeting consumer needs and solving their frustrations can we command a premium, maintain our brand position and add category value.

What challenges do you think office product dealers need to overcome?

There has been plenty of discussion about consolidation in the industry so, as Vasanta and Spicers consolidate with o2o and Office Team, dealers need to look at the new structure and landscape of the market and ask what their value proposition is and how they can maintain their position while consolidation goes on around them.

Dealers have to think strategically.

What help will you be offering to dealers to help them overcome those hurdles?

We refer to our dealer customers as channel partners as we truly view our relationship as a partnership. We want to work with channel partners who are selling our products as effectively as they can and therefore add value to their business and Acco Brands. We’ll continue to support them with added value product innovation and comprehensive marketing support.

What can dealers expect to see from Acco over the coming months?

We’ll be investing heavily in our new product development and marketing in order to maintain and grow our position in the UK market. We’ll also continue to embrace the digital age through the likes of SEO and content marketing. We think exciting times lie ahead for Acco. DS

MANAGEMENT

GYB – SCAN & MANAGE

Scanning ovation How can resellers build profitable business in the document management and scanning arena? Austin Clark finds out

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GYB – SCAN & MANAGE

N

In recent months, the business of scanning and document management has very much taken a back seat compared to the noisy neighbour that is managed print. That’s despite document management solutions enjoying 14% year-on-year growth according to InfoTrends. So how can resellers educate their customers about scanner and document management technology and build sales?

“The key thing all resellers need to adopt is a consultative approach working in tandem with their customers to really understand their business pain points and how a document management solution could address this,” says Robert Gristock, channel sales manager, Kodak Alaris. “It’s not just a tin sell these days. By looking closely at what customers do with their paperwork and how they manage it, it’s then far clearer to scope and propose a solution that delivers a clear return on investment. This will comprise scanners and/or MFPs but, crucially, software, too. By doing this, resellers are likely to win more bids and help educate customers along the way. And let’s remind ourselves why document management is so important. By digitising paperwork, businesses enhance collaboration, provide faster access to data, enable staff to respond quicker to customer queries and more accurately which, at the end of the day, helps enhance commercial growth, ensures customer retention and boosts business profitability.”

Simon Hill, sales director UK and Ireland at Nuance Document Imaging, suggests that resellers also need to talk to their distributor partners to see what help is available. “Resellers should ensure that they are working closely with their distributor partners,” he explains. “Distributors frequently host in-house training days or workshops for both resellers and their customers. The training days are often co-hosted by hardware manufacturers and software developers, forming a chain that links an understanding of customer’s needs with the products available to satisfy them. Resellers should also consider joining their distributors’ reseller programs, which typically provide ongoing training and marketing support to help resellers best communicate the features and benefits of that distributors’ solutions.”

Klaus Schulz, manager product marketing EMEA, PFU Imaging Solutions Europe (a subsidiary of Fujitsu) agrees. “PFU supports its partner networks to achieve growth in all imaging markets,” he explains. “Resellers that want to be a part of this development should guide customers toward comprehensive document management and archiving solutions. They should point out to them that there is a huge untapped potential because many companies do not have document management systems that span over multiple departments or the whole company. Scanning

has changed face from ‘Scan-to-Archive’ to ‘Scan-toProcess’, from the end of a work chain to the early integration into business processes for efficient processing of paper-based information.”

“Augmenting the MFD solution is where the smart money should be spent to leverage the investment already made”

KEY FEATURES According to those interviewed, end-users are looking for a number of key features in their document management solution. They include intuitive ease of use, indexing, effective document sharing, file encryption, low energy consumption from hardware and the ability to integrate with existing systems that run in the background of business networks.

Luke Jennings, VOW’s merchandising product manager, technology, says: “Obviously this is specific to the customer and would be the question that sales teams would have to ask. Do they need to digitise their workload or limit their physical storage needs by going digital? Do they need to share documents quickly across multiple sites? The security aspect is significant as originals can be shredded and replaced with encrypted files on off-site servers.”

Much of that is achieved through the successful installation of relevant software, which is a critical aspect of a successful document management solution.

“The bundle is king,” explains Dean Woolliscroft, key account manager, DICOM Distribution. “Too many businesses invest in hardware but stop short of investing in associated hardware. Capture software can reduce the time spent subsequently archiving documents by 60% or more. It’s important to get businesses to understand that a digital archive has to be as well or better organised than a paper one. This is best achieved through a managed document management solution.”

“The market for document scanning has changed,” points out Gristock. “No longer is it just about speeds and feeds of scanning equipment. Resellers need to really get under the skin of what their customers are doing commercially, the document pain points and how a scanner and software solution can help.

Document management is applicable to every business benefits irrespective of size. The software component is crucial to automatically capture, index and share information, as well as making it easy to integrate with back end systems. Speed and accuracy are important. This is the primary function of the hardware and is a role that mustn’t be forgotten. The better the scanner hardware, the less rescans are required, image quality is enhanced and, of course, user productivity and efficiency are therefore maximised.”

CONVERTING CUSTOMERS One of the easiest group of customers to sell document management solutions into is those who already have an MFD. “If a business has already purchased a MFD,

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

43

MANAGEMENT

GYB – SCAN & MANAGE

they have the scanner hardware already and typically don’t really need to upgrade unless they have very specific scanning needs,” comments Gristock.

“Augmenting the MFD solution is where the smart money should be spent to leverage the investment already made. It’s back to indexing and using intelligent information management solutions to do this so that users can find the right information at the right time given their specific business processes and job roles.”

Nick Ranson, head of OA channel sales at Samsung, adds that the real future is all to do with device flexibility. He says: “There has been talk about using MFD’s as an on-ramp to a document management system for a few years now, but we can also talk about using our phones and tablets to do the same. I mentioned it briefly at our Futurescape event – why wait for the document to arrive in the post, when you could capture that all important signature at the point of signing via your salesperson’s phone, and kick start your process then? Why stop with MFDs when you can use the same software and processes from a mobile, tablet and an MFD.” When approaching a customer, resellers have a number of key sales messages to take with them.

“Resellers ought to adopt a two-fold strategy to improve the sales process,” recommends Gristock.

“First, they have to get more involved and understand how their customers’ businesses work so they can put forward the correct offering or suggest alternative solutions. This addresses a customer’s specific needs and allows the reseller to expand its product or services portfolio. So, resellers need to work hard to become a trusted partner. This, of course, then dictates the type of information that might be helpful: white papers, visits to other customer sites, and so on.

Secondly, resellers need to keep abreast of what their

Key verticals for scanning and document management: Kodak Alaris suggests that the industries capitalising on scanning and document management the most are as follows: Healthcare - the Government is pushing the NHS to be paperless by 2018 so there are numerous medical records projects underway where Trusts are digitising their whole legacy paper-based libraries.

Legal - a lot of court bundles are now being scanned so that paperwork is removed from the system. Law firms themselves are also scanning old cases to release space in their offices, reduce costs and make information access easier.

Central and local government - document management projects are commonplace with the aim to reduce costs, improve operational efficiency, provide access to data and improve services to the public.

Financial services and insurance - clearly the big drivers in these verticals are meeting compliance and governance demands. Access to information is key, which also enhances the customer experience thereby improving retention rates in what is a super competitive business environment.

44

NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

“The security aspect is significant as originals can be shredded and replaced with encrypted files on offsite servers”

OEM partners are doing and the events being offered so they keep up-to-speed with market developments, expand their product portfolio knowledge and keep pushing on. The former CEO of Intel, Andy Grove, was fond of saying ‘Only the paranoid survive’. One has to keep on one’s toes all the time to keep evolving and helping customers in what is a competitive and changing marketplace. And so it is with the document management space.”

Hill adds: “Some of the most powerful proof points are case study success stories that relate to the industry sector that the customer is in. A successful document management strategy and installation isn’t just rooted in knowing what process and products would work in a given environment, but is also based on understanding the document workflow needs of a specific industry. For instance, a legal firm’s document management system will be very different to a manufacturing company’s. If a reseller can show they have industry-specific experience, it could be a potential factor in the client’s decision making process.”

Andy Johnson, product and solutions manager at Brother UK, says that resellers themselves need to learn about the product and solutions they’re selling.

“Being aware of the variety of scanners and document management technology available, as well as the features that different products offer, will help resellers to identify the best solution for their customers,” he says. “For example, many of the latest desktop business scanners offer a range of connectivity options meaning they are compatible with smartphones and tablets and ideal for organisations operating a BYOD scheme. The portable scanner market has also grown significantly in recent years and resellers can capitalise on this by educating customers on how these support agile working.

“Businesses are now becoming savvier with their filing. The old days of searching cabinets for paper documents are gone, as digitised files make organising and managing them much easier. Resellers can capitalise on this by highlighting scanners that scan directly to the cloud, along with the added benefits of document management software, making digital files searchable, secure, organised and accessible from virtually anywhere.”

Finally, Woolliscroft suggests that a very different investment is needed first. “Buy some biscuits!” he says. “A simple needs assessment over a cuppa often reveals more than someone chucking a ream of paper through a scanner.” DS

Want to read more?

Find out what our experts think the latest technological advancements in scanning and document management are – head to DS Extra at www.dealersupport.co.uk

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46

Plantronics ramps up reseller rewards Plantronics has announced the launch of two new rewards incentives schemes as part of its Connect Rewards Programme for channel partners.

Each day in the run-up to Christmas, all of the vendor’s Premium and Certified partners will have the chance to win a new award-winning BackBeat Fit wireless headset with each sale of a minimum of five products (excluding cables and accessories). In addition, any salesperson that sells Plantronics products for 10 consecutive days will receive a Plantronics BackBeat Pro for their efforts.

To add to these giveaways, Plantronics is also extending its prize pots for partners to include the best-selling contact-centre product, the Plantronics SupraPlus.

This latest round of Connect Rewards incentives come after Plantronics’ introduction last month of a new ‘express pricing’ programme to generate new sales

opportunities. Under the new programme, partners will benefit from discounts on sales of 10 or more wireless headsets – and 25 or more corded devices – to ultimately increase their margins. They will also receive additional sales support from Plantronics to improve their odds of winning crucial deals.

Superstat has it in the bag The Superstat Group has launched a marketing programme that identifies and tailors marketing requirements in line with each dealer’s individual objectives.

Aptly named ‘It’s in the bag,’ it sets out a plan for 2015 for dealers with all their activity for the year set out.

From e-marketing to personalised mailers, “It’s in the bag” encompasses all of Superstat’s initiatives and is shaped to fit their dealer’s exact requirements.

Business development team leader, Matt Farrar, commented: “We understand each of our dealers are unique and we want to ensure that the tools and resources we provide are tailored to that individual

NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

dealer. “It’s in the bag” enables the principal to focus on growing their business knowing their marketing is taken care of for the year, so all efforts can be placed on business growth.”

Save the pen campaign launched Pentel is targeting the next generation of writing instruments purchasers through a social media campaign with a difference. #SaveThePen is a tongue-in-cheek riposte to the notion that, in an age of smart phones and tablets, the importance of the pen is diminished.

The campaign is all about having fun, expressing personality and exploring your creativity with Pentel writing instruments.

Wendy Vickery, Pentel’s marketing manager, said: “In an age of smartphones and digital devices it might be tempting for some to wonder about the future of writing instruments – as the naysayers did with the so-called paperless office. Our message challenges that thinking, but in a fun way that celebrates the opportunity for old and new to complement, rather than oppose, each other.”

Central to the campaign is a viral video, with a selection of scenes showcasing some humorous and unexpected uses of Pentel pens and markers. A different scene will be uploaded each day, until the video can be played in full.

The campaign is currently running across social media channels including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Vine and targets 15 – 25 year olds, students and young office workers.

MARKETPLACE

writing instruments

A 47

PEN PALS What’s hot in the world of pens and writing instruments? How can dealers successfully grow business? Austin Clark finds out

hile sales of traditional office products continue to slide, writing instruments remain staunchly resilient.

“Market data, feedback from our customers and our own figures all indicate that the writing instrument market as a whole is in a very healthy state and continues to grow,” says Stuart Barker, marketing manager at The Pilot Pen Company. “It does appear that own-brand writing instruments are declining in popularity and are being displaced by branded products.”

That view is echoed by Alastair Wallace, head of sales at STAEDTLER

W

(UK), who comments: “We are seeing demand improve this year across markers, ballpoints and pencils. It seems office buyers are now able to buy more brand again, rather than be own brand and white box driven. Supply disruption has moved supply around, but overall commercial sales are up, mirroring all other sectors.”

Wallace explains that brands are being chosen thanks to the reliability they offer. “Our Noris pencils are a great example of Mum sticking with a brand she has known for over 40 years, when it comes to back to school purchases,” he says. “The biggest frustration for both her and the children

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

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MARKETPLACE

writing instruments

is the lead breaking and being unable to sharpen, which she may well have experienced with a cheaper quality pencil. This keeps her loyal.”

BRAND APPEAL Writing instrument manufacturers have invested heavily in brand promotion recently, with products seen everywhere from TV ads to social media. This has successfully encouraged consumers to buy products based on features such as erasable ink, cost-effective refills, long-term value and quality, plus familiarity and belief that branded pens are simply better.

“Our Stripe Up Your Life campaign, which has been running throughout 2014, has been the driver behind the increase of our point 88 pens,” says Vanya Hunter from Stabilo. “We have had a strong TV campaign supported in store with POS and window displays. As a result we’ve seen a significant increase in sales of our point 88 and pen 68 pens.

In terms of branded pens, marketing activity helps the consumer to purchase a branded pen knowing that it comes with a quality and trust that cheaper non-branded products don’t have.”

Barker adds: “Pilot is not the lowest-priced within our customer’s product categories but our sales growth and market share gains prove

“WE ENCOURAGE RESELLERS OF ALL

SIZES TO EMBRACE THE MORE PROFITABLE BUT SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO SELL BRANDED PRODUCTS FROM WHICH THEY WILL ALSO MAKE A BETTER RETURN ” that consumers are prepared to spend a little more to enjoy technical benefits,” explains Barker. “Our sales of refills are increasing so it is fair to say that consumers do look for this feature on the writing instruments that they use. Pilot invests very heavily in quality control, product testing, innovation and growing brand awareness with the consumer.

The fact that a large majority of the Pilot range are refillable means from the consumers point of view it will last them longer and from the dealers perspective they are likely to keep returning to purchase refills and more of the actual pens.

“Over the past two years Pilot has invested heavily in a series of consumer media campaigns to increase awareness of the FriXion family and this has definitely driven demand for the FriXion range and in particular has established the newer FriXion Clicker (retractable version) amongst the top selling rollerball pens in the UK market.”

Wendy Vickery, marketing manager at Pentel, says that dealers can easily take advantage of this manufacturer marketing activity. “Dealers can ensure they get maximum benefit from manufacturers’ marketing

NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

activities by taking advantage of the promotional opportunities generated by manufacturers and channelled through the wholesalers or buying groups,” she says. “Tools, including web banners and buttons, are often available to support promotions and communicate to the end-user. Social media plays an increasingly important role in manufacturers’ marketing plans, providing a powerful and immediate way to engage with and influence end-users. Connecting with manufacturers via their Facebook and Twitter accounts gives dealers the most up to date reference to current campaigns and activities.”

Wallace adds: “There is no finer sales technique in this sector than putting a sample in the customer’s hand to demonstrate the quality and performance. If you gain the sale, chances are they will re-order. Staedtler will be organising a sampling and promotional campaign featuring triplus for commercial dealers in 2015.”

OVERCOMING PRICE PRESSURES Schneider Pens’ business in the UK is continuing to grow but undoubtedly there is pressure on price – something dealers can do a lot to overcome.

“Our research shows that many resellers often point their customers towards the lower-end pens; these pens inevitably run out too quickly or break too easily resulting in dissatisfaction and false economy,” explains Daniel Ayriss, director, The Office Product Network (OPN). “To counter this we encourage resellers of all sizes to embrace the more profitable but sometimes difficult to sell branded products from which they will also make a better return. Fortunately there are some enlightened resellers who understand that pen usage is often very personal and that cheapest isn’t necessarily best. Look, feel, longevity, ink and nib type all come in to play as well as the product’s effect on the environment. We have to collectively better explain these features and benefits.”

Looking forward, Ayriss says that from a product point of view, how people will use writing instruments in the future is clearly shifting.

“Technology and the tablet generation are removing the need for making copious notes so the pen is increasingly a considered choice – a personal statement – a less disposable item that is there to be enjoyed often in tandem with their premium note book,” he says. “These customers once won are stubbornly loyal.”

With plenty of opportunities to capitalise on manufacturer marketing, brand loyalty and mid to high-end pens becoming something of a statement piece, dealers have a huge opportunity to bin the red pen from the profit sheet and introduce some high quality black ink.

WANT MORE? Head along to www.dealersupport.co.uk for a full interview with Pentel about the state of the pen sector.

Ideal for Christmas Crafting The new extended range from Staedtler UK

Counter top packs of 30 gold and silver metallic markers For more information, please contact your Staedtler UK representative or call 0845 600 5930

www.staedtler.co.uk Staedtler - Metallic Marker - Dealer Support - 190x136mm.indd 1

05/11/2014 09:44

50

PRODUCT FOCUS

Fraud and security

Arming yourselves for cyber warfare In the final part of our series on fraud and security Jess Pike turns her attention to cyber security and asks what dealers can do to make sure their customers avoid becoming yet another victim of cyber attack

NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

PRODUCT FOCUS

uturistic though the term may sound, cybercrime is a problem that pervades our here and now – work, home and everything in between. In recent years incidences of security breaches have become more ubiquitous, with often devastating impact, and the last 12 months have seen a number of high-profile cases splashed across the papers.

In 2013 US retailer Target was the focus of a media frenzy when its systems were hacked and an estimated 40 million credit and debit card details were taken. Alex Balan, head of product management at BullGuard, points us towards another unlucky US cyber victim, Home Depot, which suffered a similar fate with a whopping 56 million card details potentially exposed. “Plus, we’re probably all familiar with the recent iCloud breach in which nude pictures of celebrities were leaked – it garnered wall-to-wall media coverage and a lot of red faces,” he says. “This was recently followed by a breach of an estimated 200,000 accounts of Snapchat users in which a huge, 13-gigabyte library of personal photos and videos were exposed.”

In the most serious cases businesses find themselves cracking under the pressure of an online security breach. “The Target CEO eventually fell on his sword,” says Balan, “and there are plenty of examples where the reputational damage has been so bad that businesses have never fully recovered.” It goes without saying that if a customer sees that your business has been hacked, their trust in you will be significantly undermined and they may well feel they have no choice but to take their custom elsewhere.

F

INFORMED SELLING At corporate level there are lots of software programmes available to customers to protect them from online attack. Many will offer network access control, intrusion detection systems, data leakage prevention systems and full encryption along with strong certificates to ensure that your network is fully protected.

To ensure your customers feel reassured that you know the market, it might well be worth emphasising to them the importance of a good security policy. “The act of devising a policy will also identify vulnerabilities,” explains Balan. “The policy should also incorporate areas that need to be covered such as access control for the network and computers.”

Depending on company size, it might also be worth advising that they carry out regular tests to ensure the highest standards are being met and problems identified. “It’s horrific to realise that something like 90% of all businesses have no security training for staff and don’t carry out these simple tasks,” says Balan. “It’s also important to ensure you have someone who is actually dedicated to security and you don’t just hand it over to the IT people who usually have enough on their plate.”

Backing up is also crucial, as Nigel Morris from Beta Distribution points out. “It may not seem ‘of the moment’ but CDs and DVDs are still a highly reliable back up medium. The BBC has advised us to ‘…regularly back up data to offline storage such as Blue-ray and DVD-ROM disks.’ Networkattached drives and cloud storage does not count as CryptoLocker can access and encrypt files stored there.”

Fraud and security

A 51

Morris spoke to Verbatim for their views on the increasing prevalence of cybercrime; their experts, like Morris himself, recommend backing up files where possible – ideally on a write-once media that can’t be locked or deleted even if it’s attached to a machine at the time of an attack or problem. If you do have a need to transport sensitive data on hard drives or USB flash drives, always ensure that they’re password locked with 256 bit AES encryption.

SHIFTING THREATS According to Philipp Wolf, vice president protection labs at Avira, companies should always keep their antivirus software updated on all devices. “We also recommend they install browser extensions that protect you by blocking these website-based threats,” says Wolf. “Installing them on all professional devices guarantees access to safe websites when you browse the internet as they warn you about harmful pages before you click on the links.”

“ AN INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF ATTACKS IS IN PART DOWN TO THE GRADUAL MERGING OF DESKTOP AND MOBILE COMPUTING ”

The simplest precautions should never be overlooked – think strong passwords, which should always be changed on a regular basis. “On an internal level, strong social computing guidelines should be implemented in any business environment to enable employees to protect all data while using the company’s devices,” says Wolf. “Companies with a BYOD policy should also make sure that personal devices correspond to security standards before being used by employees to handle any sensitive information or data.”

An increase in the number of attacks is, in part, down to the gradual merging of desktop and mobile computing, which has perpetuated the shift to online services across all areas of business. “Online privacy is also going to be a continuously growing issue as the fallout from the NSA and GCHQ revelations continues to create waves and the iCloud breach ensures privacy remains under the spotlight,” explains Balan. “Consequently, we’re going to see a steady rise in encryption tools as both individuals and companies seek to ensure their privacy rights are safeguarded.”

Whatever protection you recommend to customers make sure you emphasise the fact that, regardless of their company’s size, a cyber-attack will have a hugely detrimental impact on their bottom line; then offer them a glimpse into your product offering and re-emphasise how urgent it is that preventive measures are in place to ensure protection. Good luck – and happy selling!

www.dealersupport.co.uk NOVEMBER 2014

C U LT U R E

T I E LIV

The best way to spend your free time and money

FI LM

Q UO T E O F T H E MONTH Out 17 October

Biographical drama The Imitation Game centres on the English mathematician and cryptographer, Alan Turin, who helped crack the Nazi’s Enigma code during World War II. As the Allied forces fought on the battlefields, a team of young geniuses led by the brilliant Turin, played by Benedict Cumberbatch, were in a race against time at the Bletchley Park code-breaking centre, trying desperately to demystify the Enigma. Despite Turin’s contributions to the war effort, he was later prosecuted for acts of ‘gross indecency’ after engaging in homosexual relations. Keira Knightley also stars.

MUSIC

flickr:touchedmuch

THE IMITATION GAME

Out now

CALVIN HARRIS

NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

StacieStauffSmith Photos / Shutterstock.com

Q1: Which band was the first ever to perform on

Top Of The Pops?

Q2: In which year was Marmite launched?

Q3: Which was the first children’s book by Roald

Dahl to be published?

Q4: What might be kept in a formicarium?

Q5: In which year did a woman first win a Best

Director Oscar?

Henry Ford

GOOD

Pass masters When prospective students sat down and opened their University of Salzburg entry exam papers they found the answers had already been filled in, and they were all correct. But their joy was short lived after teachers discovered the error and cancelled the exam. It turned out the prospective psychology students had received the version of the tests the lecturers used to mark the exam. It all ended on a positive note when the 144 applicants were allowed on to the course.

Motion is the upcoming fourth studio album by Scottish record producer, singer, deejay, and hitmaker Calvin Harris. Packed full of typically dancefloorfilling tunes, the album collaborator list is packed full of the current crop of stars including Ellie Goulding, Ummet Ozcan, Big Sean, R3hab, Tinashe, Haim, Firebeatz, All About She and Gwen Stefani. Tracks that have already made it to number one include Summer and Blame featuring John Newman. With the Christmas Party season soon to be in full swing, expect to hear plenty from this album.

PU B QU IZ

“Don’t find fault, find a remedy”

Faking it Dutch student Zilla van den Born faked an entire exotic five-week holiday across South East Asia from the comfort of her own home. From snorkelling in clear blue seas to visiting temples, sunbathing on idyllic beaches to trying new exciting foods, Zilla did it all. Except she didn’t, posting photo shopped images on social media apparently to demonstrate how far we can use social media to manipulate the images we put out to the world.

BAD

A1: Rolling Stones A2: 1902 A3: The Gremlins A4: Ants A5: 2009 (Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker)

52 A

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“D qu SS oti U ng B1 r 2” ef to ere q u nc al e if y

May 2012 Issue 203

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DISTIE REVIEW 2012 The major players in IT wholesale AIN BRIT turing E IN ac MAD at manuf A look e 2012 m at ho PICS LYM O DON for gold LON go rs Deale EN RE GG the WIN GRO rview with up te An in ercial Gro m Com

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my inspiration

Lively, multi-faceted and full of inspirations – that’s Paperworld, the showcase of the paper, office supplies and stationery sector. For retailers and trade buyers it’s the most important platform for finding out about new products, discovering the latest trends and forging contacts with industry colleagues. Make sure you’re here in 2015!

info@uk.messefrankfurt.com Tel. +44 (0) 14 83 48 39 83

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INSPIRING BUSINESS SOLU TIONS

2012

DEAL ER

DEALER SUPPORT MAY

June

54

FINAL WORD

Danielle Attard

Supersize your online sales Comgem’s head of marketing, DANIELLE ATTARD, shares her thoughts on how to supersize your online sales SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF ECOMMERCE “ AWEBSITES ARE NOT OPTIMISED FOR MOBILE DEVICES RESULTING IN MISSED OPPORTUNITIES AND SALES ”

aving an ecommerce website makes sense; B2B accounts for the lion’s share of online sales and the average value of online orders exceeds those of their offline equivalent by a staggering 44%. A common question is that of how to increase online sales?

Many ecommerce websites are set to fail from the start; common pitfalls include little planning, a lack of customer perspective and leaving it to the ecommerce provider.

Your website is your virtual shop window and, just as with bricks and mortar premises, endusers won’t stop and shop unless your site is appealing. A high bounce rate is often the result of poor design. The first seconds on a website create a lasting impression; slow loading speeds and poor design choices can have a negative impact in the formative moments.

Does your website instil confidence. Does it work on the devices buyers are using? Is it easy to find what they are looking for? How does the site compare to those of your competitors? The answers to these questions should be evaluated regularly to ensure that, as market conditions evolve, so too does your website.

H

YOUR ECOMMERCE PLATFORM – MAKE OR BREAK Few people give the functionality of an ecommerce website a second thought. Yet, as soon as a site doesn’t work as expected reputations are damaged, complaints ensue and customers are lost.

Choosing a reliable platform is essential. Wherever possible seek a demonstration of the system and live examples before committing to a project.

Over 30% of browsers view the internet on a mobile device (a figure that’s set to rise) so ensuring your website adapts for different screen resolutions is no longer a luxury – it’s a must.

Despite this growing trend, a significant number of ecommerce websites are not optimised for mobile devices resulting in missed opportunities and sales.

When managing a large number of product categories, plan how to structure them to enable users to find products quickly. Whether it is endless category drill-down, multiple clicks before you hit the product details page or a convoluted checkout process; every additional click costs you sales.

Proactively monitor how your ecommerce search is being used in order to improve your search algorithm so your website delivers the results your customers want to see first.

Many ecommerce websites still fail on the basics of search engine optimisation (SEO). A good ecommerce platform should ensure your site is technically optimised but should also provide a range of tools to help you manage and optimise your content. If these basic tools are missing, the cost to your business in lost sales could prove devastating.

THE LAUNCH OF THE WEBSITE IS THE BEGINNING Once a website launches the focus should be on driving traffic to your website and keeping them there. Traditional marketing methods, pay per click, affiliate marketing, email shots, social media campaigns and shopping comparison services are only examples of the myriad methods available.

Existing customers represent an opportunity for repeat business. Adopting the Amazon approach of remarketing with a mix of targeted campaigns, promotions and offers will significantly increase the likelihood of realising this opportunity.

NOVEMBER 2014 www.dealersupport.co.uk

Speech recognition as standard

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DON’T BE FOOLED WHEN BUYING CHEAP! Could you spot the difference?

Counterfeit consumables can be hard to spot How to spot a counterfeit:

• Doesn’t look or feel right • Missing HP logo on product or packaging • Missing security seal on packaging • Signs of tampering

• Price! Too good to be true?

• Cartridge failure and poor print quality • Incorrect OEM on the box or cartridge • Language options and spelling mistakes

Why should you care?

Customers expect the best quality consumables, so why buy cheap counterfeit consumables that will often print out blotchy or faded making prints unusable! Don’t put your reputation on the line by falling for cheap cartridges from unauthorised distributors that do not guarantee 100% genuine stock.

What is a counterfeit print cartridge?

Counterfeits look like HP, feel like HP and are illegally sold to unsuspecting customers as HP. However, the sad truth is even the best counterfeit print cartridge is still worthless to you and your customer. That’s because the quality and performance of a genuine HP print cartridge can’t be reproduced.

Buy smart. Buy original. Buy from VOW, a HP Authorised Distributor.

Help put a STOP to counterfeit consumables.

Remember to always check for the official stamps

Authorised Distributor

For further details visit www.voweurope.com www.voweurope.com T: 0844 980 8000