"We need a ‘big bang’ moment for getting back to the office. The economies that 'normalise' first will be the big winners from Covid and there is a chance the UK will outperform EU countries" writes The Telegraph's Matthew Lynn
Direct 2 User
2021 was a year of tremendous growth for direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands. Brands did experience supply chain issues and rising carrier costs, but 2022 looks much brighter, given the business supply channel's challenges, consolidation and navel gazing...
HP's hypocritical
An HP Inc. “Not for public posting or use” partner presentation last year has set out why “imitation cartridges are bad” for business, environment and printers? We discuss ceo Enrique Lores team's dodgy exhortations...
Veritiv vexation.
Bain Capital held a 15% stake in paper & packaging wholesaler Veritiv up until 2019 when it bought competitor Imperial Dade and made 27 acquisitions through Jan'22. There was speculation Bain would buy Veritiv as a distribution platform for Imperial...market cap was extremely low. Still on or will Bain invest in its own platform?
Economic relief
As government economic relief ends there has been a wave of OP dealers offering themselves for urgent sale. Meanwhile, wholesalers are raising service charges? The perfect storm of weaker 'holesale support; higher WFH 'cost to serve' delivery; #AMAZONIFICATION; slow supply chain and continuing Covid imperil dealers future....
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....
Talk up Productivity.
Shift7 Digital CEO Andrew Walker explains why the "product, product, product" mentality won’t take dealers' webstore to the next level. Rethink what you are selling. Stop selling discounts on OP. Start telling personal productivity stories that engage and save time, money & space for users....
How AI advances
"The struggle for marketers is real" writes Amy Heidersbach, CMO, Persado. "Digital transformation is putting real-time insights at our fingertips but these capabilities don't always translate into more authentic experiences for our customers— instead, creating missed opportunities and a lot of waste." We analyse and discuss...
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