Packaging power
The hygiene & packaging market looks alot like the glorious 80/90's days in OP. Consolidation of regional independents in a market with 10%+ growth fuelled by WFH/ecommerce, led by the major players e.g. ULine and venture capital funds. We review, analyse leaders and trends....
Kaluzny skins SPLS
Former bigbox giants Staples & Office Depot ($52Bn sales 2007) have been destroyed by a mix of incompetence and vulture capitalist's greed. Today, aggregate sales are $19Bn sinking at a $2Bnpa rate. What are the motivations of Sycamore's Stefan Kaluzny and Depot's ceo Gerry 'Bizarro' Smith? We review and comment...
Can dealers svc
Corporations are adjusting rapidly to the hybrid work future. Flexible work is here to stay. How will dealers adapt to a new norm where empowered users order business supplies online, in smaller quantities, expecting the immediate home delivery advanced by Amazon? What will they do to upgrade webstores and broaden ranges to minimise the higher cost to serve? We discuss....
Depot's charade
ODP Corp aka Office Depot has decided to delay previously announced plans to split into two public companies to "mull over sale offers for its retail division", sending its shares up 10%. This bigbox game of charades is a joke; a disintegrating mess run by a bunch of self serving simpletons...
2022 Business
Are we heralding in the Roaring 20's? Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Shopify have M-powered a new entrepreneurial revolution with affordable personal tech & immediate delivery. Covid advanced 2025 trends: #Paperless #Officeless #Touchless #Bigless #Wasteless & #Carbonless. WFH told us to connect with users by providing personalised productivity services + integrated same-day delivery. We guide on how dealers can take charge of their destiny? New Report inc. 2021 Market Review published today!
Cintas' resilient
Cintas, the uniform & business services specialist, continued its powerful sales recovery in Q2'22 results. New ceo Todd Schneider (on left) will continue retiring Scott Farmer's 'Ready for the Workday' strategic direction shift to higher profitability....
Blueland's plastic
Can Shopify out
Shopify, the specialist MCom platform for business supply resellers & entrepreneurs has grown rapidly in beyond 1M+ independent partners with a GMV running at $200Bn. It has reinforced marketing prowess with distribution services; can it match Amazon's ($800Bn GMV) delivery execution?
Channel conflicts
Dell reseller partners say channel conflict Is getting worse. “Our big issue is their direct mentality; there are no checks and balances" said a top exec from a longtime Titanium partner. Meanwhile, HP's Instant Ink SaaS direct program is now reaching $1Bn sales, dismissing dealer participation. The D2C movement is getting massive
Eakes nets another
Eakes Office Solutions the leading business supply reseller in Nebraska has acquired another OP & jcleaning dealer in its region. We can expect similar developments in 2022 from progressive chief Mark Miller.
Imperial bags
VC Bain Capital owned Imperial Dade, continued its rapid roll-up of regional hygiene, food service & packaging suppliers in the US. The latest move in St. Louis stretches nationally along a similar path pioneered by Bunzl and followed by FEMSA. The persistent question remains: will Bain back brand and systems integration; seek a merger with Veritiv, or asset strip and flip?
Verso packaged
Struggling US papermaker Verso Corporation is to be acquired by a leading Finnish packaging materials maker. Verso has long been the subject of takeover talks, inc. PE firm Atlas Holdings owner of LSC Comms (TOPS, Pendaflex brands)
UPM faces 3wks
Plants at leading papermaker UPM-Kymmene (ceo Jussi Pesonen) could face a workers' strike as it has not agreed to discuss proposals on a new labour agreement, Finnish trade unions said on Friday. Apparently, UPM wants a flexible business specific rather than the current broader collective agreement....
Retargeting: right
"The dark side of Retargeting: How it could be killing your sales" writes fan of remarketing Neil Patel. Recent market research found that the two main responses to a retargeted ad were annoyance and anger. We discuss and comment on its use in the business supplies market...
Dealer Champions
We've finalised the Proficiency Index Dealer Productivity Championship 2021 after a 2 year Covid hiatus. Sales/employee is the most universally accepted indicator of dealer profitability in the absence of private info. Leading dealers have submitted sales forecasts for 2021 + current employee numbers (FTE's). Complete
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