OPI and Martin Wilde Associates (MWA) have released the first of two highly-anticipated reports that focus on the office products independent dealer channel.
The US version of The Phoenix Report has just been published – the fruit of approximately 200 interviews with office products dealers as well as six in-depth interviews with leading wholesalers and dealer groups.
Here is a glimpse of some of the findings:
As many as two-thirds of the 200 dealer respondents reported that their revenues had increased in 2015 (38% claimed that these had grown by more than 6%), while only 25% of respondents stated that their revenues had decreased, with the majority of these (17%) claiming that the decline had been 6% or less.
The main reasons given for increasing revenues in 2015 were sales of adjacent categories to existing customers (ie range extension) (62%) and sales to new customers (ie taking market share) (61%). Around a third also cited increased sales of core OP (34%) and services (30%) to existing customers.
Overall, dealers are very positive about 2016: again, two-thirds (67%) of these respondents expect their revenues to increase in 2016, with 31% predicting that these would grow by more than 6%. Conversely, only 15% of respondents believe that their revenues will decrease in 2016, with more than half of these (8%) forecasting that the decline will be 6% or less.
The Phoenix Report is available for purchase and more details, including a table of contents, can be found here
The UK version of the report will be published in early October.
London, UK
