The art of office products

Once again OPI has brought together a list of the most influential players in the OP industry. The old (and young) masters on display in this year’s Top 100 include new faces in form of Simon Moate at the UK’s office2office, retail mogul Theo Paphitis and Australia’s new independent champion Andrew Boath. Familiar names missing from the roll call in 2008 include Integra’s Rick Needle, who has retired and Frans Koffrie, the former CEO of Corporate Express. We canvassed opinion from all corners of the world and came up with portraits of the executives who hold the power. But don’t just take our word for it, look around the gallery and see for yourself…

 
Angel Alverde Losada heads up Office Depot's Mexican and Central American operation. He's spearheaded the company's expansion in the region since 1996, having taken over just two years after the OP giant started up in the Mexican market in 1994.

In that, time he has helped expand Depot's presence in the region to five countries beyond Mexico: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama.

In 2007 alone, Depot opened 23 new stores, bringing the total number of stores to 161 in Mexico and Central America. Mexico remains Depot's stronghold, with retail coverage in all of the country's 32 states and a total of 65 cities.

According to Alverde Losada, the company's strategic priorities for the region going forward are two-fold - expand to new markets and consolidate its presence in existing locations.

Office Depot Mexico and Central America is part of Depot's International Division which, at the moment, is performing substantially better than its domestic operations.
 

Business-savvy with a keen eye for finding and exploring opportunities where other OP players dare not venture - that just about sums up the impervious Mark Baccash, founder, president and CEO of US-based franchise operation Office 1 Superstore International.

Undoubtedly the intrepid traveller of the OP world, not everywhere Baccash has ventured has brought him instant or even medium-term success. Office 1's operation in China or its small presence in the vast Russian OP market are just two instances where the going has been very tough indeed. But, and this speaks to Baccash's stamina, it's all about perseverance, about re-grouping and starting anew - and China is a prime example of that. Office 1's export operation in China has recently started appointing distributors in the country and the prospects are hopeful. Ultimately, there are few regions in the world that Baccash doesn't deem worth exploring. In the process, some franchise deals have invariably fallen by the wayside for a number of reasons. In many cases, however, the spotlight on the region as a potential OP market has been established. Baccash's global franchising concept - marrying local expertise with a financially and administratively sound 'parent' - has clearly been a phenomenal success in the OP world.

Last year alone, the company launched operations in Peru and Mexico, with both countries expected to have nine and six stores respectively by the end of the year. Indeed, Baccash puts his company's strategic emphasis next year firmly on expansion in the Americas.

Office 1 currently operates in 33 countries with a total store count of 600.
 

As a 13-year veteran of Staples, Jay Baitler has led the company's contract division from its inception to become the company's fastest growing business, with double-digit growth for the past seven years. In its latest Q4 results, Staples reported slightly slower sales growth in its overall North American Delivery business which includes three different entities - Business Contract, mail order operator Quill and Staples Business Delivery. That said, the division still grew a strong 12 per cent year on year.

Baitler's contract division serves the business-to-business customer, from the medium-sized company up to the Fortune 100. As one of the company's most senior and experienced executives, he has not only grown the business organically but also through the successful acquisition and integration of a number of independent office products companies.

2005 saw the acquisition of Prime Office Products while in 2006, the company acquired Kross Office Outfitters. Last year, Baitler identified and acquired American Identity, one of the largest manufacturers and distributors of corporate identity products in the United States. This strategic addition gives Staples a stronger presence in the $18 billion promotional products market, and complements Staples' existing operations and brings greater value to its customers. Like Staples, American Identity is known for operational excellence, great customer service and loyal customer relationships.

 

Wayne Beacham has been at the helm of SP Richards (SPR) since 2002. He has implemented a variety of changes at the second largest OP wholesaler in the US, many driven by the growing need of independent dealers to be technologically on a par with the big boxes.

SPR's Enhanced E-Content, developed last year, aims to give dealers an improved online buying experience for their customers. The initiative has received very positive reviews so far.

MyAnalyst is another new tool from SPR. Designed to take a more strategic look at how pricing is established, it aims to help both dealers as well as SPR itself to influence sales and margins, and drive higher profits to invest back into the business.

Most recently, SPR has dominated the headlines with its acquisition of regional OP wholesaler O Henry, a purchase that will give SPR greater coverage in the mid-Atlantic and south-eastern region of the US.

 

Santiago Bilinkis has been involved with Officenet since the company was founded as an Argentina-based catalogue and web-based B2B office supplies company back in 1997.

Having survived - and indeed thrived - during Argentina's monetary crisis in the early days of the new millennium, Bilinkis stepped into the CEO hot seat in 2002 and further expanded the business not only in Argentina but also in Brazil. Two years later and the company had made such progress that US power player Staples took a good look and snapped up the then $50 million company, making its first step into the lucrative South American market.

Officenet was recently ranked 30th in Great Place to Work Institute Argentina's 2007 list.

The company continues to operate under its original name and is now part of Staples' international division. And it's going from strength to strength, with Brazil now the larger of Officenet's two markets by some margin.

 

Like the rest of the Depot management team, Brown is a man under pressure. The malaise in the firm's North American region has not affected its international business too badly, which operates in over 35 countries throughout Europe, Asia and Latin America, either through wholly-owned and majority-owned entities or other ventures. The 2006 investments in Korea's Best Office, China's AsiaEC and Eastern Europe's B2B supplier Papirius should start to drive margin increases through 2008 as revenues for the region jump by an expected 50 percent.

The former Pepsico employee (which included a three-year stint as CFO at Pizza Hut UK) quit the restaurant industry to join Depot in 1998 with a view to one day getting a shot at the CFO role. After long time CFO Barry Goldstein retired he landed the post and later was appointed president of the retailer's international business in 2005. The recent departure of Patricia McKay from the CFO post means a reprisal of his old role until Depot finds a successor.

 

Now in his fourth year at TriMega Purchasing Association, president Charlie Cleary has led the organisation to three consecutive years of double-digit growth in total membership, revenues and rebates paid to members

With a total of 560 members, TriMega is the largest independent dealer buying group in the US and home to some of the most progressive and successful independent dealers in the US.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, TriMega's current strategic initiatives focus on continued member and revenue growth, and on expanding the reach of Triumph, a recently launched comprehensive training programme for sales and management development.

The association is also in the process of applying Mega Metrics, a new initiative developed to improve dealer operations through the effective mining of point-of-sale data. The first programme of its type for independents, Cleary believes that POS data is finally having a significant impact in margin performance, consumer sales behaviour and merchandising efforts. It appears there's plenty of momentum to carry TriMega into the next 20 years and beyond.

Gary D'Andrea is still relatively new in his position as chief operating officer of Grand & Toy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of OfficeMax, and the largest commercial OP company in Canada. Having replaced Garry Wood last November (although Wood was president of Grand & Toy), D'Andrea brings extensive experience in strategic business planning and management to his new role.

D'Andrea's has more than 20 years' experience in senior executive positions in companies such as Hudson's Bay, Blockbuster, Royal Trust and Bristol Myers.

Founded in 1882, Grand & Toy is one of just a few truly nationwide operators in the vast Canadian OP landscape, with 2,200 associates in 26 commercial sales offices, seven distribution centres and more than 50 retail locations from coast to coast.
 

With less than two years in the hot seat at Canada-based Novexco, CEO Robert de Montigny is keen to spread the word that Novexco is far from just a dealer group with a wholesale operation, but instead "a multi-faceted organisation with a four-pronged strategic focus".

Created from two individual groups - SOPA and Bureaulab - in 1996, the newly formed Novexco added the banner of BuroPLUS to its membership in 2000.

With approximately 80 dealer members in the Atlantic provinces and Quebec, including over 100 retail locations under the BuroPLUS banner, Novexco's dealers account for about 66 percent of the organisation's total sales.

Financially sound, de Montigny is always on the lookout for expansion opportunities, and in the short-term this is likely to take the shape of filling any existing gaps in the Quebec area.
 

Feeling the pinch that has so drastically dented results at Office Depot, OfficeMax and Duncan saw its 2007 profits increase but felt warnings for the year ahead. The third largest retailer would love to steal a march on Depot and is performing well under the circumstances. Profits rose by 18 percent in 2007 despite being dragged down by US contract operations.

Overall sales rose by 1.2 percent to $9.1 billion last year as a result of new store openings while contract sales in the US fell by 1.2 percent. However, it could be in for more of a bumpy ride this year, with sales dropping far more in the last quarter. Duncan said he expected the pressure on sales to continue at the beginning of 2008, and that the company would continue to pursue margin and cost management initiatives throughout the year. Duncan was recently selected to receive the Anti-Defamation League's Torch of Liberty.

 

Only the third CEO in the IT distributor's 23-year history, Dutkowsky took over in 2006 after a long career in the IT sector including 20 years at IBM.

Since his arrival, Dutkowsky has been involved with the firm's JV with European wireless distributor Brightstar to create Brightstar Europe, a pan-european organisation seeking to capitalise on the mobile and wireless market in the continent. In March this year the firm acquired Scribona, a broadline IT distributor with operations in Sweden, Finland and Norway. Scribona employs approximately 300 staff and reported sales last year of around $1.3 billion.
 

As one of just a few sizeable pure eCommerce OP companies, Tony Ellison has captured the needs and wants of the market perfectly. Having founded Shoplet.com in 1994, ahead of the eCom boom of the late 1990s, his company was profitable before others had even thought of a web shop.

2007 was another banner year for Shoplet with tremendous growth figures, says Ellison. And as the internet becomes the medium of choice for customers, he considers his company to be very well positioned in capitalising on this trend.

Last year saw the successful launch of its ShopGreen initiative, a section on its website that offers over 8,000 eco-friendly products. In just a short time, Shoplet has become one of the largest providers of eco-friendly products in the OP sector.
 

 

Jim Estill is CEO of SYNNEX Canada, the IT distributor that last year became heavily involved with the OP industry through its distribution deal with US dealer group is.group (initially completed in 2006). In addition to running SYNNEX Canada, Estill is also in charge of the company's North American supplies business. In the past, SYNNEX's main strength lay in the printer category, but the natural progression of that success has seen the compnany push more into the supplies side.

In addition to providing wholesale services to IT resellers, the company is now also pushing hard into selling to independent office products dealers. As mentioned above, one notable relationship in this industry so far has come through is.group as SYNNEX does all the warehousing and logistics for the group's RDC programme.

Estill says about his company's broadened focus: "We are seeing an increasing number of independent OP dealers that sell IT products like printers and computers, so they appreciate us supplying these to them as well as the toners and inks that we are so strong in."
 

Kalunga is one of Brazil's largest specialist wholesalers of office, school and computer products. It's also a true multi-channel player with a considerable B2B as well as retail presence. A notoriously private and media-shy company, Kalunga is run by managing director Paulo Garcia.

The company was founded in the 1970s by Garcia's father Damia Garcia with a small stationery shop in Sao Paulo. Today, Kalunga has 40 stores in Sao Paulo city, the state of Sao Paulo as well as in three other states in Brazil. Its overall product mix comprises approximately 10,000 SKUs. The company works closely with local as well as global OP manufacturers including Hewlett-Packard, Faber-Castell, Bic, Henkel and 3M.

US dealer group is.group has had a tough couple of years, with much criticism being directed at its controversial RDC programme - both from within and outside the organisation. With several dealers having left in the early days of the initiative, the group's membership number has stabilised over the past year and now stands at a steady 285 independent dealers.

Concerns over the sustainability of the programme have also been put to rest, says president/CEO Mike Gentile, with product worth over $100 million now being channelled through the RDC.

One of is.group's most recent and - according to Gentile - most important initiatives has been its licensing agreement with Advantage Marketing Wholesalers and the creation of the first-ever private label brand for independent dealers in the US.

Called Legacy, the brand currently comprises 500 office supply items in 39 key commodity-based categories.
 

Under Gochnauer's stewardship, the world's largest office supplies wholesaler has continued its steady growth despite slowing sales in the technology sector. This was partly down to large success in jan/san, which prompted the company to acquire ORS Nasco Holding for $180 million in November last year. ORS, a wholesale distributor of industrial supplies, sells exclusively to independent distributors. Gochnauer's philanthropy and industry leadership will be celebrated at the next City of Hope 'Spirit of Life' dinner in September after he was named the 2008 honouree. 

Dave Guernsey remains one of the most fervent advocates of the independent dealer cause in the US. Formerly in charge of international buying group consortium BPGI, Guernsey now concentrates on Guernsey Office Products, one of the largest OP dealerships in the Virginia and Washington DC area.

Up until now, Guernsey has largely steered clear of acquisitions, preferring instead to concentrate on organic growth, but this is about to change. For the short-term future, the company has two main strategic priorities, according to Guernsey. The first one involves a couple of acquisitions that are hoped to be completed within a year. The primary objective behind the move is to expand the company's trading area to more of the mid-Atlantic region. That said, adds Guernsey: "If we are unsuccessful with the appropriate acquisitions, we will move forward with greenfielding operations to the north and south of current Guernsey locations. We will remain focused on the B2B consumer with emphasis on the small to medium business segments."

Secondly, the company is re-evaluating its current supply chain partnerships. As Guernsey says: "I remain convinced that an independent's growth relies on making wise partnering choices. In light of that, I do expect that Guernsey will see some things change this year."
 

ECI² under Kapp has spent the last 12 months solidifying and most recently bolstering its position as the industry's largest provider of back office systems. Growth in the US has helped the firm spread its wings across the Atlantic, culminating in this year's launch of ECI² Europe.

In June 2007, it acquired eBuzz, a pan-European B2B software house based in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands. eBuzz has been in operation for more than 15 years and its multi-lingual Easy Order eCommerce systems are widely used throughout the continent by major companies in the office products industry and related verticals, as well as by companies in other distribution industries.

Further to this, in February 2008, ECI² Europe acquired the office products division of UK-based software developer Integrity Software Systems. The deal included Integrity's Vision and Atomic business systems, as well as the sales, support and development teams for both products. ECI² Europe now provides technology solutions to around 400 dealers in the UK and Ireland.
 

Apart from his day job at North Carolina-based Forms and Supply, Leazer is a heavily-active and well-known figure on the independent dealer scene. He is currently the current chairman of the board of directors at American Office Products Distributors (AOPD), which continues to show strong growth in national and regional contract and federal government business, posting a double-digit increase in contract sales for the fourth consecutive year.

Leazer is also actively involved with NOPA as a member of the Government Affairs Advisory Council. In March he testified before Congress on its behalf, regarding the use of small business 'pass-throughs' by large companies to gain improper access to government contracts set-aside for small business. Leazer's legacy is now cemented in history after - in what must be in an industry first - his NOPA testimony made its way onto YouTube.
 

Responsible for leading the company's worldwide merger and acquisition activities, Luechtefeld has been with Depot since 1993. Noted for her "entrepreneurial style and pioneering spirit" she is best known for turning Depot's online store into a giant, second only to Amazon at the turn of the century. An executive committee member, she was appointed to her current newly-created position in 2005 overseeing Depot's global supply chain, logistics, warehouse, distribution and inventory systems as well as the global IT systems, applications and infrastructure. A powerful figure and - shockingly - the only woman in the Top 100.
 

With 25 members in the dispersed Canadian market, Basics Office Products is the Cambridge, Ontario-based national network of independent office products dealers. It aims to serve consumers as well as multi-sized corporations across the country through its local, 100 percent Canadian-owned and operated dealers.

Operational since 1976, Basics increases dealers' purchasing leverage and helps them in establishing competitive vendor contracts.

Sean Macey has been president of Basics since 2006. While he admits that dealers in Canada need to work more closely together in order to combat the might of the big boys, Macey would not be drawn on what exactly needs to be done to make this happen.

Another new face to our Top 100 list, Mike Maggio joined ActionEmco in 2004 as senior VP of sales and a member of the company's board of directors. In 2006, he became president/COO, adding the CEO title in January 2007.

Maggio has over 30 years' experience in this industry. His OP career began at family-run independent dealer Independent Office Products where he worked for 12 years. The next 14 years were spent at SP Richards (SPR), the second largest OP wholesaler in the US. He began his wholesale career as operations manager at SPR, advancing over the years to general manager, VP of sales and finally division vice president. Since joining ActionEmco, Maggio has overseen the re-organisation of the entire business, following the management buyout in partnership with investment firm Center Partners in 2003.

His goal has always been to better support today's independent office products dealers. In addition, Maggio, along with the management team, has transformed the culture of the entire organisation from two businesses, one in Michigan and one in New Jersey, to one organisation, with clear and focused strategies. ActionEmco is now a prominent regional player in the US and the country's third largest OP wholesaler.
 

Founded in Toronto in 1991, Staples-owned Business Depot is Canada's largest supplier of office supplies, business machines, office furniture and business services for the small business and home office customer.
Presiding at the helm of this astonishing success story is Steve Matyas, the company's first ever employee and one of the growth drivers behind the business.

Known in Canada as Staples Business Depot - or Bureau en Gros in the province of Quebec - the company now has over 13,500 employees serving customers through more than 290 office superstores as well as its catalogue and eCommerce activities.

Before joining the company, he was VP and COO at Koffler and Associates where he was responsible for the operation of a chain of greeting card and stationery stores.

Apart from his responsibilities at Staples Business Depot, Matyas is also active in several other retail activities and serves on a variety of councils and advisory committees.
 

The enigmatic publicity-shy Meehan has attracted many admirers since his tenure began back in 1978. Now the largest privately-owned office products dealer in the US (and probably the world), WB Mason reached sales of approximately $622 million in 2007. The company and its leader refuse to stop pushing the business on and although currently serving the New England and Mid-Atlantic states, who knows where it's famous trucks will end up with Meehan behind the wheel. 

Prior to his move to Corporate Express in 2001, Mutschler held positions as president and COO of North America at US Office Products, and various management positions with Office Depot and Eastman before that. With a career spanning 23 years, his huge experience of the North American market made him an easy choice for the role at CE when he took over in August 2007. And it won't be easy for the man seen as a safe pair of hands by CE bosses. The firm experienced near-flat results in the region throughout 2007 and Mutschler will be hoping that any fallout from the Staples bid will allow him to complete his work. 

Founded in 1990, DC Mayorista (or Dealers Club) has grown to become the main office supplies and IT consumables wholesaler in Mexico, with sales in excess of $80 million. The company stocks over 5,000 products from more than 100 global brands in 13 different categories. The firm offers its customers a sophisticated online ordering system and prides itself on its customer service initiatives. 

Jim O'Brien is a new entrant to OPI's Top 100 list of resellers. That said, he's by no means new to the office products arena and could easily be described as an OP veteran.

O'Brien joined the industry in 1973 working his way through the ranks of the Federal/Champion/McKesson organisation. He served as regional VP for McKesson Office Products before joining nationwide wholesaler SP Richards (SPR) in 1987.

After successfully guiding the creation of two distribution centres and opening a new facility in the Boston market, he was promoted to division vice president in 1992 and was responsible for the company's largest division.

He was promoted again in 1999 when he joined SPR's headquarters group as VP of dealer development. In this role, he was responsible for the marketing and sales support of independent dealers. This includes the company's successful Advantage Program and Advantage Business Conference.

Office Depot is the second largest OP reseller in the world after chief rival Staples. But while that's a significant accolade in the first place, the messages from Depot's Delray Beach, Florida headquarters haven't been good over the last year or so, and Odland's reign in particular has come under intense fire.

With most of its its divisions under attack for one reason or another - disappointing sales from acquisitions, the loss of the state of Georgia contract and investigations in other states, audit enquiries into its vendor programme, poor retail performance partly as a result of a slowing US economy, the drop of the Viking brand (impending in Europe) - the list is getting longer and longer.

And, drafted in from Autozone partly for his cost-cutting expertise and experience, Odland is for now also unable to let the figures do the talking. In its recent Q4 results, profits were down by 85 percent to $18.8 million from $126.6 million in the same quarter last year. Depot's share price hovered in the low double-digit range with a closing price of $11.04 at the time of going to press. On the positive side, Depot continues to impress with its environmental programmes and has won a range of awards for its efforts in this area.
 

Philips stepped up to plate after the resignation of 25-year company veteran and former president and CEO Ken May in March this year. May's departure comes midway through an aggressive expansion plan to open 300 new office and print centres in the US throughout fiscal 2008. The company has also been redesigning 110 existing centres and introducing 20 new locations internationally, as part of an overall plan to provide small businesses and travelling professionals with even greater access to the company's office and print services and the FedEx network.

In his role as acting CEO, Philips is responsible for more than 1,800 locations and 22,000 workers in 11 countries. In his day job as COO and EVP of Office and Print Services, he oversees the company's worldwide business performance, including operations, retail sales, marketing and strategy functions.
 

Phipps was promoted to the newly-created position of president of United Stationers Supply off the back of his work as senior VP of operations. The new role will combine leadership of sales, operations, and merchandising for the company's core office supply and technology businesses, putting him right at the heart of the business. A "natural choice" for the position, Phipps, 44, has been with the company for three years.

Before joining United Stationers, he spent 13 years with McKinsey & Company where he was a partner. He was one of the leaders in the firm's North American Operations Effectiveness Practice, and co-founded and led its Service Strategy and Operations Initiative, which focused on driving significant operational improvement in complex service and logistics environments - experience which should all serve him well as United continues to fend of its powerful rival SP Richards.
 

It's been another year of frenetic activity at international dealer group consortium BPGI. And as CEO Jim Preston says, 2007 was a very successful year indeed for both BPGI and the independent dealer community.

Dealer sales to end users were up in the high single digit range in all of BPGI's geographic regions, while purchases from BPGI vendors also increased across the board, often by more than ten percent.

BPGI's total membership now stands at 22 dealer groups, with a total of 3,600 dealers selling to 26 countries. The consortium added three groups in 2007 - pan-European alliance EOSA, Sweden's RKV and Sacfom/Buro+ from France bringing the group's total combined sales to $14 billion.

The raison d'etre for BPGI - ensuring that its dealer group members enjoy better purchasing power - has again been achieved, with global purchasing compliance hitting 99.3 percent and significant savings being made through successful purchasing initiatives in the areas of private label, EOS and IT hardware.
 

In the OP world, there's no bigger name than Staples, the mighty $19.4 billion reseller of all office-related supplies. The company's power broker is Ron Sargent, chairman and CEO since 2005.

Sargent has been absolutely crucial in shaping the company into what it is today. His forte - even his fiercest rivals will testify to that - is outstanding strategy and almost faultless execution. In the domestic market, Staples' North American Delivery division has seen a magnificent 14 percent sales increase in sales in 2007, more than offsetting the 3 percent sales drop in the retail arena where most industry players have had a tough time in view of the sluggish US economy.

The question on everybody's lips, however, is whether Sargent will succeed in his public hostile takeover bid for Dutch contract stationer Corporate Express. The first offer of €2.5 billion ($4 billion) was quickly rebuffed.
Sargent's latest grand plan is sure to dominate the headlines for the next few months, maybe even the year.
 

Named president of Depot's North American Business Solutions operation in July 2007, Schmidt brought with him 30 years of diverse business expertise and leadership. Before joining the company, he spent 12 years with ACNielsen Corporation, the world's largest marketing information and research company, reaching the top as president and CEO. In his new role he succeeded Cindy Campbell, who served as EVP of the business solutions division since 2003. Schmidt oversees eCommerce, direct mail and catalogue channels.

He recently implemented a north-east turnaround strategy to salvage some of the customers it lost following the acquisition of Allied, which includes "customer re-acquisition, a new contact strategy and a new service model". The jury's still out on whether Schmidt's plan will succeed but he'll certainly have to draw on all his experience to halt an exodus of former Allied customers towards rivals WB Mason, Staples and the independent community.
 

CEO at the world's largest technology distributor since June 2005, Spierkel leads a mammoth organisation employing 13,700 workers in 35 countries.

With more than 27 years' experience in global operations management he is recognised as one of the best operators in international business. Under his leadership, IM has seen strong growth, most recently through a focus on China via the acquisition of Tech Pacific. The largest acquisition in company history is beginning to bed in nicely for Spierkel, turning a once struggling region into what he believes will be the largest in IM's armoury in a few years. In 2007, the company reported total sales of $35 billion and profit of $276 million, showing a sales increase of 12 percent, the third double-digit growth year in four years.
 

Eddie Tutt continues to be in charge of Wal-Mart Stores' office products offering in the US as the company's VP of stationery.

As a mass market and general merchandise retailer, Wal-Mart wouldn't typically qualify for a place in OPI's Top 100 list of resellers. That said, it's the world's largest retailer and the fact that stationery and back-to-school supplies and commodity items as well as computer consumables and hardware account for a considerable percentage of its overall business make it an easy selection.

At the end of January, Wal-Mart reported phenomenal full-year net sales of $375 billion, an impressive increase of 8.6 percent over fiscal year 2007.

While supercentres will be the primary driver for expansion for the retail giant in the US, internationally the focus will be on different-sized format stores, taking into consideration local retail preferences. Whatever the format, the amount of total office products sold is likely to increase which is a worrying prospect for OP resellers with less magnificent purchasing power.
 

After posting a heavy loss in the summer of 2006, Vander Zanden has overseen a turnaround plan to simplify the education supplies company. Working on simplifying the business and focusing on core assets, the plan included the sale of Specialty's video production division, School Specialty Media (SSM), integrating its category management structure and a review of the firm's position in the reading and literacy publishing market.

The results could be seen in School Specialty's revenue in 2007, which reached a record $1 billion - a 6.7 percent increase over 2006. The firm's Specialty segment revenue grew 12.3 percent, primarily driven by the firm's earlier acquisition of Delta Education in August 2005. School Specialty should see revenue in fiscal 2008 of between $1.06 billion and $1.09 billion, which includes $20 million in anticipated revenue from four of California's largest districts agreeing to adopt School Specialty's science curriculum.
 

Greg Welchans is another new face to OPI's Top 100. As president of Supplies Network, the largest privately-owned wholesaler of IT consumables in the US, Welchans sees his company as being solely directed towards independent dealers.

With a tally of 4,000 dealer customers on his books at the moment, Welchans' focus on this channel has been a considered decision. He knows from personal experience about the might of the power players, having worked for some of the biggest names in the US OP industry, including BT Office Products, Office Depot, Corporate Express and USOP.

Having joined Supplies Network in 2001 as director of marketing, he is now responsible for sales, sales operations, marketing and product management.

Supplies Network's sales have more than doubled over the past five years - without acquisitions - and Welchans contributes this growth directly to the health of the independent dealer. As for this year, he says: "The US market in 2008 will have its challenges, but we are optimistic about the growth of the independent dealer. We are focused on the success of these dealers and will continue to invest in our business to help them grow!"
 

Spicers has become a strong force in the German OP market. Having entered the country in 1998, the last decade has seen the increasingly European wholesaler overcome its teething problems in the country, partly due to managing director Thomas Apelrath.

Apelrath joined Spicers Germany in 2004 - the year the wholesaler broke even in the country - from Toshiba where he was general manager of German and Austrian operations. With 280 staff in two locations in Germany, Spicers is now one of three major logistics operators in the country with close links to dealer group Büroring.
It's also the third largest contributor of Spicers Europe's revenues accounting for about 10 percent of the wholesaler's total sales of between £550 million and £600 million ($1.1 billion and $1.2 billion). Spicers Germany's revenues alone grew 9 percent over the last 12 months, with over 20 percent of that growth coming from new product categories such as jan/san and breakroom supplies.

2007 also saw the launch of Spicers Germany's 'Top-Shop Concept' which is directed at B2C-orientated retail outlets and takes its lead from category management philosophies. It's the company's first foray into directly addressing end user needs in Germany.
 

2007 saw the continued success and profitability of Office Club members, says CEO Mark Austen who founded the dealer group in 1992. As a whole the group increased its purchases with almost all vendors and through the wholesale channel. Combined turnover of the group's members remained relatively unchanged for 2007 at around £250 million ($500 million) despite seeing the actual number of members fall slightly to 240 due to acquisitions and people withdrawing from the industry.

Highlights over the last 12 months include significant investments in member services, notably eMarketing and web stores, and in production facilities to provide members with value-added services such as poster printing and vinyl cutting. Office Club has also held a series of successful events including the 2007 London conference and a national roadshow held at the beginning of 2008 which took in 10 UK cities.

Austen is well-known within the industry for his involvement with BPGI and in 2007 he assumed the chairmanship of the $14 billion purchasing alliance.
 

The fact that independent dealer group Office Supplies Denmark (OSD) has a 30 percent share in the highly competitive Danish OP market speaks volumes for the integrity of the company which was founded in 1999. With Lyreco and Corporate Express investing heavily in their Scandinavian operations, OSD has been able to tough it out with the globals and it deservedly picked up the Dealer Group of the Year award at this year's European Office Products Awards in Frankfurt. Niels-Friis Autzen took over the managing director's role in April 2007 after several years as purchasing director, and one of his main challenges going forward will be to ensure a smooth transition to a common IT platform for all members, which is planned to begin in early 2009. 

 
The European Office Supplies Alliance (EOSA) has had a much-needed injection of life over the past few months and that's in no small measure due to its new chairman Peter Basci.

Created five years ago, EOSA now has 11 member companies with combined revenues of €750 million ($1.2 billion). All its members are substantial B2B operators in their respective European countries. EOSA also last year joined international buying consortium BPGI, adding to the international outlook it already had through its partnership with OfficeMax in the US.

While Basci is leading the alliance's expansion plan, it's not all about adding members he says: "We soon have to start closing down this phase we're currently in and move from quantity to quality."
 

 
Matthias Baumann stands at the helm of Office World, the Zurich, Switzerland-based multi-channel supplier of technology supplies, office products and equipment. Having taken on the CEO mantle in 1999 at the tender age of 26, Baumann has very successfully steered Office World through some rough waters. One of his toughest jobs was undoubtedly the closure of all Office World stores in the German market in 2003 in view of mounting losses in Europe's largest economy.

Despite growing pricing pressures and an increasingly competitive business environment, Office World increased its 2007 revenues to CHF115.7 million ($114 million), up 3.3 percent from the previous year.
In fact, despite being perhaps best known for its chain of 19 office supplies superstores in the Swiss market, Office World has had substantial success in being the first retailer to recently introduce a customer online self-service terminal to order over 6,000 ink cartridges, toner cartridges, ink ribbons and paper.

By recent standards, 2007 could be classified as a pretty quiet year for Lyreco with little in the way of acquisition activity apart from taking a stake in its Egyptian partner Speed Send. However, Eric Bigeard and his team have been far from idle with the tasks of completing the integration of Ahrend and Swiss supplier Büro-Fürrer heading the to-do list for the year. Lyreco Germany officially saw the light of day, while logistics operations in Germany and Benelux have been consolidated into two distribution centres (DCs), including a new €10 million ($15 million) investment in the Hanover DC.

The year also saw the completion of new headquarters and DCs in the company's Australian and Danish operations, plus the consolidation of Canadian distribution into one DC in Kingston, meaning Lyreco Canada can now serve the Toronto and Quebec markets from one location.

While all this has been going on, organic sales rose very nicely by 8 percent to €2.2 billion, the UK, Spain, Italy and Poland all posting double-digit sales growth, and Bigeard has already said that the organic growth rate is expected to be about the same in 2008. The company's aptly named CASH zone (Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia and Hungary) has already posted an amazing 500 percent growth rate at the start of this year.
At the end of 2007 Bigeard swept aside Lyreco sell-off rumours as gossip-mongering, and OPI predicts that it is more likely that before the year is out he will be on the acquisition trail again rather than be courting potential buyers.
 

Operating about 140 stores throughout England, Birks is responsible for Staples' UK retail, online and catalogue operation. Birks has broad experience in office products retailing and prior to joining Staples was VP and managing director of Office Depot UK, where he played a key role in launching and growing the company's contract business. He previously worked in various executive positions with ACCO, Lyreco and 3M. Birks reports to Theo van Brandenburg, president of Staples' European Retail business. 

There are few people who have as big an influence on the Russian OP market as Komus's Sergey Bobrikov. The company he set up in 1991 encompasses retail, wholesale and manufacturing activities, while at the same time acting as the official distributor for 110 products. Komus's geographical presence is the broadest of any player in the Russian market with 24 sales agencies dealing with a massive 105,000 corporate customers. Retail operations consist of 54 outlets, 34 of which are in Moscow where the Komus brand enjoys 94 percent recognition with consumers. 2007 saw a $45 million investment in a new distribution facility on the outskirts of the Russian capital. 

 
Kaut-Bullinger is a company that doesn't boast about its success. Media-shy and difficult to get to know, the traditional, family-run business simply gets on with the job of defending and manifesting its reputation as Germany's largest independent dealer. Its status as a formidable player in the German market was recently confirmed during the European Office Products Awards ceremony, when Kaut-Bullinger won the Reseller of the Year Award.

Frans-Josef Busenkell stands tall at the head of the company that, only a couple of years ago, faced some severe problems in its operations, resulting in a series of restructuring and streamlining measures.

Today, Kaut-Bullinger has eight office supplies retail shops in the southern states of Germany. Its delivery business operates nationwide, with 19 locations all over the country. Customers are served both from its central warehouse near Munich as well as through a number of independent distribution partners.

Fiducial Office Solutions is the number three player in the French market after Lyreco and Office Depot, and 2007 was a good year with sales up by a healthy 6.5 percent to €209 million ($314 million), comfortably beating the market average of 3.5 percent. Jean-Claude Carquillat's team has been focusing on more profitable contracts and cost-cutting efficiencies and this has helped operating profits increase by around 80 percent to €8.6 million.

Fiducial's Progress own brand counts in the region of 1,000 different products and has been boosted by the consolidation of Asian sourcing at the company's representative office in Shanghai which has been open just over a year.

The core French market accounts for 96 percent of total business, but the Belgian operations are doing well, with sales up by 15 percent in 2007, while Fiducial Spain has yet to reach break even after starting up in 2006. Carquillat says that the company expects 2008 sales to exceed €220 million.
 

As EVP of Office Depot Europe, Dirk Collin has a challenging task on his hands. And with less than 18 months in the job, it hasn't been easy for him over the past year or so.

On the plus side, Depot has been making great strides in expanding its presence in Europe, through a new greenfield operation in Poland, an expanded retail presence in Hungary, as well as a number of successful new partnerships in Norway and Denmark. The company has also broken ground for new facilities in Germany and the Netherlands.

However the UK and Ireland businesses have struggled and been contributory factors to some of the company's recent profit decline and operating margin compression.

Last year, Collin also surprised the audience at OPI's European conference by announcing Depot's preference for a single brand strategy in Europe. For the moment, this is taking shape in the form of a co-branding period with the Viking brand likely to be eventually phased-out in Europe.
 

Corporate Express pulled off quite a coup when it poached Damman in October last year. The well-known figure with 20 years' experience in the industry carries a big reputation to match his stature. Since his appointment he has overseen the acquisition of Danish dealer Møller & Landschultz. Møller, based in Espergærde, has a strong presence in the Copenhagen area with large and mid-size customers. It employs 66 people and is expected to realise 2007 revenue of approximately €18 million ($28.1 million). Damman knows the territory extremely well and he will relish the opportunity to control the largest B2B contract stationer in Europe. We predict that Damman will feature on these pages for years to come. 

Stefano di Veroli continues to develop both his C'ART retailing business and the Office 1 franchise in Italy. The C'ART stationery and gifts store network has increased to 110 stores throughout the country and there have been two high profile openings recently with a 9,000 sq ft store opening in the main shopping street in Milan and a 1,000 sq ft outlet in Rome's Via del Corso, one of the world's most famous shopping streets.

Meanwhile, the Office 1 franchise continues to grow profitably and awareness of the brand is increasing as more stores are opened. There are now 35 Office 1 superstores in Italy and 2008 sees the launch of an Office 1 web franchising offer, an online concept for franchisees who want to run a purely web-based business.
 

After taking the helm of the European wholesaler's UK business in February 2007, Doherty knew he was in for a busy time. The UK division, which comprises 50 percent of Spicers' total revenue, had been suffering from a deterioration in margins. However, things are starting to look up for the company since Doherty's arrival. A new management team is said to have "taken decisive action" and there is now believed to be "good momentum behind a range of improvement initiatives, principally aimed at enhancing the sales mix, raising service levels and lowering costs". The division's distribution network has also been streamlined further through the closure of the Park Royal RDC in London last June. 

Appointed in September last year, Drakeford replaced Euroffice's founder and former CEO, George Karibian, who became executive chairman.

Known for being an aggressive online growth agent, Drakeford joined the online retailer from T-Mobile UK, where he replaced 100 percent of the firm's web architecture and infrastructure and grew sales by over 200 percent in two years. Prior to that, he was at Orange, where he grew the online channel from launch into a top ten online retailer.

In the first six month of his new role at Euroffice, Drakeford moved quickly to rebrand the entire organisation. He will be looking to uphold the company's reputation as a regular fixture on the UK's fastest-growing companies lists, where it has reported 49 percent sales growth year on year. Total sales at the firm exceeded £18 million ($35.9 million) for the year ended 31 March 2007.
 

With revenues of €660 million ($1 billion) and 550 independent dealer members across the country, Soennecken is by far the largest dealer group in Germany.

Founded in 1926, the group has encountered many challenges over the years and its future looked in some danger back in the late 1990s. Then renamed Branion from the previous two names of Soennecken and Büro Aktuell, Dr Benedikt Erdmann and his new team in 2002 began to turn the group around.

Now chairman of the organisation's board of directors, Dr Erdmann can take considerable credit for converting an ailing and somewhat cumbersome group into a lean organisation that currently supports its dealer members in 1,200 locations in Germany, working with over 900 brand manufacturers.
 

It's not one of the big boxes, but Greece-based Plaisio Computers is right up there in terms of strategy, execution and - most importantly - sales and profit growth. Founder and CEO George Gerardos is the man of the moment, having recently won the coveted Industry Achievement award at the European Office Products Awards ceremony in Frankfurt. And for good reason - under the leadership of Gerardos, multi-channel operator Plaisio has become a leading player in the Greek OP market, with a continuously growing market share.

The company's sales grew a staggering 23.8 percent in 2007, to €385 million ($593 million), while profits (after taxes) increased an impressive 36.2 percent to €13.7 million.

Plaisio now operates 21 stores in Greece, the latest one having been opened in 2007 with a footprint of 17,000 sq ft. In addition to its retail presence, Plaisio has a formidable B2B presence in the country - its web shop is by far the most visited commercial site in Greece according to Focus-Bari research. Its new 225,000 sq ft distribution centre in Athens is currently under construction and expected to be completed later on this year.

Three years ago, the company expanded into Bulgaria and, in 2007, reported revenues of 16.3 million in the country. It's expecting to break even this year in this relatively new market.

Gerardos has always fostered strong international relations and his company has been a member of wholesaling alliance interACTION from the early days. interACTION's Q-Connect private label range achieved sales of €20 millon for Plaisio in Greece and Bulgaria last year, an increase of 36 percent compared to the prior year.
 

Since it was founded in France in 1966 by André Guichard and his son Jean-Pierre, workplace equipment and supplies distance selling company Manutan has grown into a pan-European group with 23 subsidiaries operating in 20 countries and it boasts an impressive 600,000 clients. Right from the start the Guichards had international ambitions and Manutan has steadily moved into new markets through acquisitions or start-ups, most recently with the start of operations in Russia and the acquisition of UK storage solutions company Rapid Racking.