Page 15 - BOSS Today Issue 12

a shoot we had to wait several
DEALERS’ VOICE
DEALERS’ VOICE
days before we had any chance DEALERS’ VOICE
of seeing what the shots looked
like.”
M M
He joined the organisation Many of the dealers who have been with Integra any of the dealers who have been with Integra any of the dealers who have been with Integra
when it was still Instat. “I brought since before the beginning remark on the
together both knowledge of changes that have taken place in that time,
the stationery industry and particularly the development of the merged
knowledge of design – a field I Integra as much more of a marketing had never seen the like of before when it was
had already been working in.” organisation than what had gone on before. launched and probably still haven’t seen now.”
The difference now, more But despite such developments – and despite But there are more human touches that both
than 15 years down the line, is the move towards more digital production men value as well, particularly the regular
quite substantial. “Now the whole generally – it seems it’s still the Integra catalogue, Integra dealer conferences.
production of the catalogue is all one of the dealer group’s earliest creations, that “It’s a great opportunity to share ideas with
done digitally and we get it out in still holds them most in thrall. other dealers, and to talk to other dealers,” says
a couple of months,” he says. “All “We felt we had to join what was then the Deavin. “There is always great camaraderie and
the photography is done digitally, NDA in 1991 because you had the big corpo- you can have a lot of fun.”
so you can see how the product rates – the likes of W H Smith – vying against us,” Morris has even found conferences spinning
will look almost immediately. says Paul Deavin, chief executive of WG O ce o each other. As a result of connections made
So speed to market has hugely Supplies, a £6m turnover, 38-strong stationery through Integra, he now also has a regular “mini-
increased, which is paramount. telesales business based in Crayford, Middlesex. conference” with an Integra board member who is
We used to have huge libraries of “I won’t say we wouldn’t have survived, but we based in Tunbridge Wells and another dealer. “The
photographs. Not any more.” couldn’t have produced such a good quality good thing about all these occasions is that you
A major step forward came catalogue on our own. And we couldn’t have get to speak to like minded dealers – of whatever
with the introduction of a launched a brand like initiative either.” size,” he says.
Matrix content management Steve Morris, managing director of £1.5m Carl Dovey, chairman of the £13m Bates O ce
system or CMS, which to a large turnover ODM, also thinks highly of the now Supplies, which took over his company Doveys
degree automated the process increasingly personalised catalogue. “It gives us last year, thinks the restructure in 2007 was also a
of putting the catalogues, individuality” he says. “Rather than getting the positive move. Dovey, who was chairman at the
together each year. “That really same old catalogues that everyone else has seen, time, says: “A dealer group should always be run
revolutionised the way we we get our own catalogue which most people for the bene t of the dealers and not the share-
worked,” says Prosser. “You no holders, but by 2007 a lot of the old shareholders
longer had to rely on third had moved out of the industry and we didn’t have
parties to do it, which was good a mechanism to cater for that. It took us a long
because whenever you did that time to change it round. But most independent
before you were always putting dealers need dealer groups. My old company
things beyond your control. We would have fallen by the wayside if not for Integra,
can now put all the information and even now I’m chairman of a much larger
onto a central database and use company the savings, expertise and combined
it accordingly, as and when we knowledge of the membership and general
need to, again increasing speed An Integra dealer conference under way support from Integra is just as important.”
to market.”
That flexibility also means
personalisation becomes that revolution has had an impact on on the web they still find it easier
much more easy to achieve. the way both the department to find products in a catalogue
The system also means that, and Integra as a whole operates. and they will always want to
if necessary, in producing a Last year Prosser’s team started have a hard copy as a back up or
personalised catalogue for a offering creative design services ready reference,” he says. So what
dealer they can change the to members in both online used to be a Herculean labour
prices from those on the default and offline media. “We are also to produce will still be around in
price list to match what the expanding with a large format years to come.
dealer itself wants to charge. printing service, providing The only difference will be
Such changes would have large poster prints for our retail that, thanks to developments in
rarely been made before the members.” the digital world, it will no longer
system was introduced because And yet, Prosser doesn’t think be such a Herculean task. And
they would have had to be The speed at which catalogues that online media has killed that will leave his team open to
implemented manually, hugely can be produced, and the degree to off the catalogue. “Research offer other services.
increasing the chance of there which they can be personalised, has we carried out recently with
changed radically over the years,
being an error. much to the dealers’ delight. It’s all consumers indicates that whilst ■ VISIT www.integra-office.co.uk
a big change from where Integra
As with all industry, the digital started - and Instat before it. customers may choose to order FOR MORE INFORMATION

May/June 2012 | BOSS TODAY 15

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