OPI TALK

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Hear the latest news, interviews and analysis from the business supplies industry hosted by OPI, the leading media organisation for the international office products sector.

Episodes

Friday Aug 20, 2021

Messe Frankfurt gearing up for in-person trade shows

Friday Aug 20, 2021

With Paperworld set to return as a physical event in January 2022, OPI catches up with Messe Frankfurt’s Julia Uherek.

You don’t need us to tell you that the business products events calendar has been turned on its head by COVID.

One company that has been in the firing line is Messe Frankfurt, organiser of the Paperworld brand of shows around the world. However, after months of Zoom and Teams calls and online events, we are slowly starting to see a return to in-person conferences and shows.

Our guest on this episode of OPI Talk is Julia Uherek, recently appointed as Vice President of Consumer Goods Fairs at Messe Frankfurt. She talks about how Messe Frankfurt has been coping with the impact of the pandemic, some of its digital initiatives and what we can look forward to at the next Paperworld show in Frankfurt at the end of January 2022.

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 Aug 13, 2021

S.P. Richards – 12 months on (part 2)

Friday Aug 13, 2021

Tune in to this episode of OPI Talk to hear the second part of our interview with Yancey Jones and Mike Maggio of US wholesaler S.P. Richards (SPR).

Following on from the previous episode, Yancey and Mike talk about how SPR responded to the COVID-19 pandemic and how they are encouraging more diversity at the company. They also give their thoughts on what a merger of the Office Depot and Staples retail networks in the US might mean for the company.

Friday Aug 06, 2021

S.P. Richards – 12 months on (part 1)

Friday Aug 06, 2021

OPI Talk catches up with S.P. Richards’ Mike Maggio and Yancey Jones just over a year after they led the takeover of the US wholesaler.

The first episode of this two-part podcast looks at the progress made on implementing their vision for SPR, the efforts made in moving from a catalogue-based wholesaler to a market-driven distributor and the recent brand refresh.

Look out for part 2 next week.

Friday Jul 30, 2021

One-to-one with ACCO’s Boris Elisman

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!

Friday Jul 23, 2021

Brexit – six months on

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.

Friday Jul 16, 2021

The importance of technology – and pride – in our industry

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

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.

Friday Jul 02, 2021

Steve Danziger and the return to the office in California

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’?

Friday Jun 25, 2021

Planning for a hybrid working environment

Friday Jun 25, 2021

Brother UK Managing Director Phil Jones explains how his organisation has been planning for a return to the office, why it is implementing a hybrid working policy going forward and what this means for the look and feel of the company’s headquarters near Manchester.

He also issues a rallying cry to office products resellers, calling for them to ensure they are supplying the products and services customers want, and that their digital capabilities are able to meet expectations.

Friday Jun 18, 2021

Everything you need to know about the North American Office Products Awards (NAOPA)

Friday Jun 18, 2021

The North American Office Products Awards are back!

After a break in 2020, OPI is delighted to confirm that the 2021 North American Office Products Awards (NAOPA) will take place during Industry Week ’21 being held from 7-12 November in Orlando, Florida.

OPI is now accepting entries and nominations for the nine NAOPA categories.

What are the categories? Who can enter these awards? Why should I even enter? What is the judging process?

OPI Director Janet Bell answers these questions – and many more – in this episode of OPI Talk, hosted by OPI News Editor Andy Braithwaite.