Episodes
Friday Jul 30, 2021
One-to-one with ACCO’s Boris Elisman
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Friday Jul 30, 2021
As this podcast goes out at the end of July 2021, we are right in the middle of the quarterly earnings reporting season. Many businesses are seeing strong improvements versus last year – when earnings were hit by COVID lockdowns – and one such company is ACCO Brands, where organic growth was more than 20% year on year, with the EMEA region growing by over 50%.
About an hour after ACCO’s analyst conference call had finished, OPI News Editor Andy Braithwaite had the opportunity to speak with CEO Boris Elisman about the company’s results and some of the trends he is seeing.
Topics covered included: taking share in EMEA, Brexit, supply chain issues, back-to-school replenishment, local manufacturing, the recovery in the B2B channel, continued growth in the e-commerce channel, opportunities in the wellness category and learning to live with COVID despite the rise of the Delta variant in many of ACCO’s markets.
All packed into 20 minutes!
Episode produced by Andy Braithwaite
Music by:
Extreme Energy by MusicToday80: https://soundcloud.com/musictoday80/r...
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg
Friday Jul 23, 2021
Brexit – six months on
Friday Jul 23, 2021
Friday Jul 23, 2021
Stewart Superior Managing Director Geoff Betts shares his experiences of Brexit from a UK supplier’s point of view.
In this episode of OPI Talk, hosted by OPI News Editor Andy Braithwaite, Geoff talks about the preparations the company made for the end of the Brexit transition period on 1 January 2021 and what the situation has been like over the past six months.
He also refers to freight and shipping challenges, inflationary pressures and the changing landscape of the European office products reseller channel.
Episode produced by Andy Braithwaite
Music by:
Extreme Energy by MusicToday80: https://soundcloud.com/musictoday80/r...
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg
Friday Jul 16, 2021
The importance of technology – and pride – in our industry
Friday Jul 16, 2021
Friday Jul 16, 2021
Our guest in this episode of OPI Talk is Simon Drakeford, CEO of the UK’s EO Group. Simon has been at the helm of this multi-faceted but deeply technology-rooted company for about 14 years. Fiercely passionate about the business supplies industry, he also extends that involvement beyond EO Group with his current Chairmanship of UK trade federation BOSS.
OPI’s CEO Steve Hilleard recently caught up with Simon for our Big Interview in the July/August issue of OPI. This is an extract from the interview. For more information on topics such as EO Group’s latest financial results, the continued – and impressive – resilience of the independent dealer channel and ongoing progress at BOSS, make sure you are subscribed to OPI.
Episode produced by Heike Dieckmann
Music by:
Extreme Energy by MusicToday80: https://soundcloud.com/musictoday80/r...
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg
Friday Jul 09, 2021
Breakroom category ready to rebound
Friday Jul 09, 2021
Friday Jul 09, 2021
The latest office breakroom trends with Office Snax CEO Todd Elmers.
Pre-COVID, breakroom had developed into a key category for many office supplies resellers. The bottom fell out of the market virtually overnight when the pandemic forced most offices to close.
Now, as offices begin to reopen, resellers will be banking on a return to growth of the breakroom category. But will things be the same as before? What new breakroom trends might emerge post-COVID?
In this episode of OPI Talk, Andy Braithwaite catches up with Todd Elmers, CEO of Office Snax, a leading distributor of breakroom products into the office products channel. The company was in the news recently after it acquired the snack and candy business of Advantus, and consolidation is one of the topics that Todd addresses in this podcast.
Episode produced by Andy Braithwaite
Music by:
Extreme Energy by MusicToday80: https://soundcloud.com/musictoday80/r...
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg
Friday Jul 02, 2021
Steve Danziger and the return to the office in California
Friday Jul 02, 2021
Friday Jul 02, 2021
This episode of OPI Talk takes us to the state of California, where we speak to Steve Danziger, the founder and CEO of AAA Business Supplies and Interiors, one of the US’s most successful business products dealers.
Steve tells us about the impact that COVID-19 has had on his main customer base located in the San Francisco Bay area of California and how AAA had to come up with new solutions to market more effectively to its clients.
Then, as people start to return to the office, likely in some kind of hybrid model, what does this mean for AAA and other resellers in the independent dealer channel? And what are some of the things Steve is looking at in order to stay relevant in this ‘new normal’?
Episode produced by Andy Braithwaite
Music by:
Extreme Energy by MusicToday80: https://soundcloud.com/musictoday80/r...
Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music provided by Free Vibes: https://goo.gl/NkGhTg