Best of the best
by Tom PhillipsThe European Office Products Awards 2008 brought the best and biggest characters in the industry together for one of the most well-received evenings of the year.
It will go down as one of the classic nights in the industry for (mostly) all the right reasons.
Nearly 450 delegates crammed into what was one of the biggest European Office Products Awards ever. Most were drawn by the stunning turnout of big names, not least Ron Sargent, who flew in from Boston to give one of the best Industry Toasts in memory.
However, before the excited delegates could take to their seats, they were met by a thigh-slapping German 'oompah' band supplied courtesy of Stabilo, wonderfully breaking the ice by trouping around the assembled guests and even riding up and down the escalator that leads to the entrance of the Congress Center Messe Frankfurt. The Bavarian theme continued over the course of the evening, with suitably-dressed beermaids helping to oil the wheels by handing out steins of beer throughout the night.
After taking to their traditional-style German benches, the assembled crowd of OP's most influential figures were welcomed by OPI's own Steve Hilleard, who introduced the winners later on in the evening.
After dinner, the delegates settled to hear an on-form Ron Sargent explain why it took Staples ten years to be successful in the European market, much to the amusement of the international audience.
His warmly received speech was followed by comedian Henning Wehn, whose parody of a German without a sense of humour was uncanny.
The night then moved on to the main event - the awards. First up was the topical Environmental Responsibility award sponsored by EOSA, a hotly contested prize with many fine entrants on the shortlist. However, it was 3M that proved victorious, after judges decided that the company really did "walk-the-walk" in this area. It has had an established environmental programme since 1975.
3M's global Pollution Prevention Pays programme has produced remarkable results and in Europe alone, there have been 226 employee-driven projects since 2001, reducing 3M's pollution emissions by an incredible 24 million kg every year. Werner Kaelin, 3M's business manager for Office Supplies for Europe & the Middle East, stepped up to collect the award from Peter Basci, chairman of category sponsor EOSA, and CEO of iba.
The second award to be presented was the Dealer Group of the Year. Entrants had to demonstrate how they met the needs of their members by providing the most comprehensive package of resources, products and services. Entrants also had to show how they develop their portfolio of member benefits to react to an ever-changing market.
Presenting the award was last year's winner of the Young Professional of the Year prize, the popular Bjarne Mindested, VP Central, Northern & Eastern Europe of Avery Dennison Zweckform. Mindested warmly welcomed to the stage the winner, Niels Friis Autzen, purchasing director at Office Supplies Denmark.
Despite very strong competition for this award from many German and British dealer groups, the judges were convinced that Office Supplies Denmark had enjoyed an outstanding year in 2007. The group operates in a very difficult marketplace, but still enjoys 30 percent market share and is a "great example" of how dealer groups can compete effectively with the global players, the judges said.
Amazing sales
Next up was the Emerging Reseller of the Year backed by Pilot. Marcel Ringeard, CEO of Pilot Corporation of Europe, read the shortlist of companies, all keen to make a name for themselves in the market. The judges discussed this award at length, struggling to compare infant resellers in mature markets such as the UK with new resellers in emerging markets such as some Eastern European countries.
After much deliberation, it was the ever-impressive Euroffice which was judged to be the clear favourite, after continuously recording amazing sales growth in a competitive UK market, and working hard to produce some of the best "sales-per-employee" statistics anywhere in the world. CEO Simon Drakeford collected the award to great applause.
On to the fairly open Reseller of the Year award, sponsored by the friendly folk at 3M, where judges looked for an established reseller that is making a difference by showing "true" business innovation.
Germany's Kaut-Bullinger was the suitable winner on the night. The Bavarian company founded in 1794 won over the judges by "taking the fight" to the global players. Germany's largest - and arguably oldest - independent dealer impressed the judging panel with the consistency of its programmes, services and by fostering "outstanding" customer relationships.
Managing director of KABUCO Office Supplies, Bernhard Greinsberger, accepted the award from 3M's business manager for Office Supplies for Europe & the Middle East, Werner Kaelin.
Victorious vendors
Then the evening moved on to the first of two vendor awards, the winners of which had to provide evidence of "exceptional product development and innovation", as well as a commitment to high standards and excellent customer service. They also had to show how their strategies have generated impressive business results throughout the last year.
The Established Vendor of the Year was won by a company that judges praised for its ability to continue to rejuvenate itself year after year. New products accounted for an impressive 22 percent of this firm's total sales in 2007. The company works hard to create a strong brand identity which produces solid benefits for its reseller partners. It enjoyed a continuous fill-rate of 99 percent last year. It even has its own train station.
Up to the stage stepped Sebastian Schwanhäusser, managing director of Stabilo, to accept the accolade from the co-founder of sales-i, Kevin McGirl.
The Emerging Vendor of the Year award featured an impressive shortlist including PUKKA PADS and Whitelines. The VP of merchandising at Corporate Express Europe, Ronny Van Rossem, opened the envelope to reveal Moixa Energy as the winner. With more than 15 billion batteries thrown away each year, Moixa's flagship product - the USBCELL - drew credit as a perfect example of how sustainable design can rethink a historic commodity category. The product has been embraced by a number of big name retailers and for Moixa, it seems the only way is up. The firm's CEO Simon Daniel made his way on stage to collect the award.
With the evening in full swing, it was time to unveil a new award - the Editor's Choice. Having run these awards for many years, OPI recognised that not all companies fit neatly into the categories. As an industry alive with interesting, innovative ideas and organisations, a special award was created to acknowledge these valuable players.
The winner, announced by OPI's acting editor Tom Phillips and features editor Heike Dieckmann, was Office Gold Club. Selected from a shortlist that included interACTION and Weitclick Commerce Connector, Office Gold Club stood out as an excellent candidate for the first-ever Editor's Choice award for offering this unique initiative.
A collaboration of 22 German manufacturers, Office Gold Club has enjoyed substantial success at putting vendor brands back in front of the consumer through a series of well-attended roadshows.
On to another highly coveted prize - the Young Professional of the Year, sponsored by International Paper Belgium Services Company. The award seeks out the brightest young talent in the industry. It is given to the executive who, in the opinion of the judges, has the best chance of driving and influencing the office products industry of the future. The winner, announced by Florent Raybaud, key accounts director at International Paper, was Brother's UK sales and marketing director, Phil Jones. The youngest ever board member in the European Brother group, Jones is widely respected across the industry for playing a key role in re-shaping Brother's UK operation and improving its market share in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
Many of his initiatives and projects at Brother UK have been implemented more widely across Brother Europe. By the age of 38, Phil was sales and marketing director across five separate product areas generating annual sales of over £100 million ($198 million). A CEO of the future, the judges believed.
This year's fiercely debated Wholesaler/Distributor of the Year recognised a dynamic wholesaler/distributor that can demonstrate how its unique approach and standard of services have achieved exceptional results over the last 12 months.
Presenting the award was VP of sales from the award's sponsor, Gordon Scott of Newell Rubbermaid, who after reading out the shortlist named Alpha International as the winner. Netherlands-based Alpha swept past considerable opposition based on its outstanding logistics, partnership ethos, and impressive double-digit growth last year.
The firm's managing director, Ralph Wouters van den Oudenweijer, who explains the secret behind the company's success in 'Winning ways' (bottom), picked up the prize.
Always a popular category, the Marketing Initiative award sponsored by M-real Corporation was fought out between six impressive campaigns. The winner, however, was Durable for its infectious Computer Cleaning Week, which reached 26 million UK consumers and prompted leading newspaper The Guardian to write that "Gordon Brown should make Computer Cleaning Week a national holiday". Durable received over 100,000 consumer requests for more information and sales jumped 30 percent during the campaign. Durable's VP of marketing for the UK Stewart Anderson collected the award from Simon Guffogg, M-real's marketing director.
Clever ideas
The penultimate prize of the evening was for New Product Innovation, sponsored by Messe Frankfurt. As the lifeblood of our industry, it was no surprise that the judges received more entries for this award than any other. They were looking for originality and innovation of the product, but also clear evidence of how successful the product had been in terms of sales, saying that "innovation can only be called great if consumers are prepared to buy it".
The winner, Pilot Corporation of Europe for its FriXion pen, was chosen for capturing revenue as well as customers' imagination. The judges were presented with many excellent new products, but said how most failed to demonstrate good sales performance. In Pilot's FriXion pen, however, they found a superb product flying off the shelf. The product is innovative and has become something of a cult among young people across Europe. European marketing manager of Pilot Corporation of Europe, Jacques Collomp, collected the award from VP of Messe Frankfurt, Ruth Lorenz.
The evening then moved on to the annual highlight of the EOPA and the final prize of the night - the Industry Achievement. Recognising the achievements of a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of the office products industry in Europe, this award was kept highly secret before the winner was announced. Providing a brief biography of the winner was Lyreco CEO Eric Bigeard who kept the audience guessing until the end.
His speech, however, made reference to the kind nature of the winner and left many unsurprised when George Gerardos was called to the stage. An emotional Gerardos said receiving the award "was one the most important moments of my life" before returning to his seat to rapturous applause.
The CEO of Plaisio Computers started his company in 1969 while a student at the Technical University of Athens. Now listed on the Greek Stock Exchange, the company operates 16 stores. Plaisio's IPO in 1999 was over-subscribed by 393 times, a record for the Athens Stock Exchange, and sales in 2007 were estimated at €375 million ($557 million).
On receiving the award, Gerardos told OPI: "It is the fulfilment of 38 years of effort, starting from zero and trying to achieve long-term high growth through innovation by creating a multi-channel/multi-product business model. The timing of the award is unique, as it encourages my team and me to expand this business model in other countries and achieve the same kind of growth.
"This award is such a great honour considering the numerous outstanding individuals and the legendary companies that constitute the European office product industry."
Commenting on the success of EOPA 2008, event organiser Ritu Lukhman said: "We have continued to increase our investment in the European Office Products Awards with the aim of building on the success of previous years. Introducing a Bavarian theme with a band to play during the cocktail reception and steins of beer really brought this excellent event to life.
"We were happy to see so many familiar faces from previous years, as well as a huge increase in new guests attending for the first time. We are already working towards another successful event next year and we will continue to make this a key event in the European OP calendar."
Next year's European Office Products Awards will take place on Monday 2 February 2009, and not Sunday 1 February as previously reported. For more information contact Ritu Lukhman on ritu.lukhman@opi.net or telephone +44 20 7841 2957.
Winning ways
OPI caught up with Alpha International's managing director, Ralph Wouters van den Oudenweijer, to find out what's happening behind-the-scenes at the 2008 Wholesaler/Distributor of the Year.OPI: What do you think were the main reasons for winning this year's award?
Ralph Wouters van den Oudenweijer: I believe that first and foremost, our clients and vendors have realised that we are an extremely reliable supplier. We have enjoyed very strong growth in the past few years and chiefly thanks to a strong focus and resourceful enterprise, we have succeeded in introducing an extremely advanced business model in our sector. This is now paying off, although I would like to add straight away that there's still a lot of room for improvement. And that we will still have to take a lot of measures to remain truly advanced as an organisation.
OPI: What do you see are the key issues in the IT market at present?
RW: For quite some time now, our sector - electronic office supplies - has been experiencing a strong wave of consolidation. In terms of pricing, the present level leaves little room for manoeuvre. Companies increasingly distinguish themselves on the basis of elements like performance, pro-activity and flexibility.
More and more resellers are scrutinising their own processes. If you can't base your profit on a better price, you will have to take a good look at the process side.
Customers can always find someone who offers a cheaper deal, but the question remains whether this supplier can deliver the same solution with the same level of effectiveness. In other words, the difference is determined by performance. For us, one of the challenges is to prove these savings and make them concrete.
There is also the development of a clear trend in the growing number of eResellers. Consumers, resellers and retailers are increasingly going online and using the internet to place their orders.
OPI: Are you seeing any changes in IT sales channels?
RW: In the next few years, the volume of internet sales will continue its strong expansion, so these sales will be claiming a substantial share of the total volume. This doesn't mean that the traditional retailer will disappear altogether, because these businesses will simply strengthen themselves by offering their clients an eSolution in addition to their brick-and-mortar outlet. This allows them to capitalise on the ever-important name recognition.
Furthermore, I can also see the IT reseller playing an important role. The primary asset of IT resellers is their relationship with the end user. Vendors are shifting their focus from distribution to the resellers, because they are the ones who are selling - for example - printers to the end user. Vendors want to strengthen their grip on the market and this is easier to achieve via the reseller. This means that the IT resellers are increasingly gaining access to programmes that link up with the end user - price-per-page solutions, for instance.
OPI: What changes are you seeing in your customers' awareness towards environmental issues?
RW: There's a lot of discussion about environmental aspects within our sector. However, I don't really see any real solutions or major changes in this area yet. While the sector does take account of government regulations within its distribution process, I don't get the feeling that clients are establishing strict rules which they expect their suppliers or vendors to follow with regard to the whole issue. I believe that although we are all paying close attention to what's being reported, we aren't doing enough in terms of a practical response.
OPI: Are you planning to enter any other markets in the near future?
RW: Never say never...but in our current strategy, we simply limit ourselves to the core business that has made us what we are today. We find this focus extremely important, and that's why you can be sure we'll hesitate to stray from this path. Indeed, this is one of the great strengths of our organisation.
We're not pioneers; we're professionals, and we always aim to be the best at what we do. In addition, we see a wealth of possibilities and growth opportunities in the EOS market.
