INDUSTRY
S T R AT E G Y I N T E R V I E W
Embracing change; supporting local businesses As the office supplies market changes, Nemo Office Club’s TIM BEAUMONT highlights the need to appreciate the traditional qualities of local trading while embracing the new world
T
im Beaumont, Managing Director
“We are called the office supplies industry, yet dealers
of Nemo Office Group is concerned
sell to warehouses, schools, retail outlets, doctors, dentists
that the office supplies industry is
and many other businesses that use our members for more
being misrepresented by historical
than just office supplies.” he says. “It is time that we, as
terminology that pigeonholes
an industry, reviewed how we are referred to in the wider
dealers into a narrow category that no longer
world to ensure that our dealers are seen as suppliers to
represents the breadth of product dealers sell.
the complete workplace – both from customer businesses
Especially since the pandemic, many dealers have
and potential supply partners.”
looked to expand their product offering and moved
Nemo Office Club has started to refer to ‘business
into sectors they would never have looked at pre-
consumables’ when talking about the traditional core
2020 – everything from PPE and COVID testing kits
business enabling dealers to pitch themselves as
to work tools and white goods – which are becoming
providing ‘workplace solutions’, which is certainly more
increasingly distant to their traditional core markets.
encompassing; whether it catches on in the wider industry
[10] FEBRUARY 2022
www.dealersupport.co.uk
