LANGSTANE – ALWAYS PRESSING ON

LANGSTANE -

always pressing on

Langstane Press has constantly evolved over its 74 years in business, ensuring it stays on top of what customers want - but the company has never lost sight of the values its success has been built on

anaging director

MColin Campbell has had a long career with Aberdeen-based Langstane Press, but is always willing to learn new skills to help the business – which he needed to do very quickly when the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“One of the biggest changes to how we’ve run our business in the past year is that we’ve done almost everything we used to do physically over Zoom or Microsoft Teams - neither of which the company had used before,” he says. “In the first lockdown we received the instruction to work from home if possible; we sat down to think the next morning and, within three days, we had everybody working from home that could do.”

This helped Langstane to weather the COVID storm. The company continued to operate throughout – it has large NHS contracts to fulfil – but saw its private sector sales drop. However, once lockdown restrictions started to lift, sales began to recover, and this is thanks, in part, to the wide and everincreasing range of products the company sells.

This evolution of product offering goes right back to 1947 when Langstane Press was started by Colin’s father, also named

Colin, and his two uncles, a commercial print business selling things like business cards, letterheads and complement slips. “He was selling into offices, and those offices also needed pencils, paper and envelopes, so he started selling those too and it rolled out from there,” says Colin the younger. “Now we sell everything within an office building; that’s how we have grown, and continue to do so. Look at the opportunities in the past 12 months with PPE! Every year we add more lines which become standard stock items.”

LOOK AFTER EXISTING CUSTOMERS

Indeed, this willingness to constantly diversify its range of products has been part of the explanation of the company’s longevity - they always look to sell more to existing customers.

“Growth is a far more achievable objective if you look to sell more to an existing customer than find new ones,” Colin says. “We have existing customers; we know them well, they know us well. We have a good reputation, and that allows us to significantly convert more of those opportunities into sales, rather than if you have to introduce yourself to a new customer who has never met you before.

“A lot of our growth has been built on this principle – you develop relationships with customers, give them exceptional service and, if you do decide to sell more of a new category or product line, those customers are more likely to add these lines to what they buy from you already.

“It very much revolves around relationships with customers, allied to high service levels and a willingness to get what they want, when they want it,” he says. “It’s as simple as that – it’s not rocket science.”

We are not concerned about the shape of business; we are ready for anything

CONTINUED INVESTMENT

Colin took over the running of Langstane when his father retired in 1987, and having steered the business successfully through

It very much revolves around relationships with customers...it’s not rocket science

several recessions, he is not perturbed by the one over the past year caused by the pandemic.

“We have found from the previous years of recessions that it is a challenge, and you have to work hard to come through but, at the other end, there are a lot of opportunities. That is the time when you can get some of your biggest growth spurts.”

With this in mind, Colin has continued to invest in Langstane, including redesigning and relaunching its webstore.

“We were going to do it anyway, but we didn’t hold back and wait until after the pandemic had passed,” he says. “It is a core and important part of our business and our industry; if you want to be successful, your webstore has to be state-of-the-art; if it isn’t, you fall by the wayside. We are going to keep investing in it and it will be a stronger part of our offering, going forward.

“Any business that has stood still, it is going to be a hard recovery out of the pandemic - but, if you’ve been nimble and flexible and have invested in your business where it’s been needed, you have the best chance to take advantage of the opportunities that come your way as the economy recovers. We are more than ready for that.

“We are fundamentally well-structured, so we are not concerned about the shape of business; we are ready for anything,” he says.

LOOKING AHEAD

While the country is still in the pandemic Colin is careful not to set any plans in concrete as he knows anything could still happen. “We just need to be flexible and agile enough to take advantage of whatever comes along.”

That said, the company is preparing for its 75th anniversary celebrations in 2022. “We want to say to our customers - and potential customers - that we have been here for a long time, and will be here for a long time to come, and everything we are offering is what they are looking for.”

Colin is still looking positively to the future. “I’m always Mr Optimistic,” he says. “Despite the unprecedented year, I have not lost any of that. Having come through previous recessions, you gain that confidence that you can get through it, and come out the other end when there will be good times again. We are confident that we will see the numbers going up again next year.

“It might take a couple of years to get back to where we were pre-COVID, but that’s fine. We are here for the long run.”