Business Solutions clients to move to Varis

expense of some margin loss due to the transaction fee it will have to pay to Varis – just like any other vendor using the platform.

The ODP Corporation (ODP) has said some of its Business Solutions division customers will be switched over to the new Varis procurement platform. Discussing this on the company’s FY2022 earnings conference call, ODP CFO Anthony Scaglione didn’t specify the number of businesses this would involve or the sales volumes they represented.

However, he said they would be “direct assist customers” that are generally using the Business Solutions platform independently and who typically require a lower level of interaction from the unit’s sales force. Transferring these clients to Varis

On The Move

Molly Whatley would bring a number of benefits to ODP, Scaglione stated. These include:

• Enabling clients to enjoy a wider assortment from third-party suppliers, creating additional revenue opportunities for Varis.

• Improving satisfaction levels through a “better and more modern e-commerce experience”.

• Delivering higher overall contract compliance.

Business Solutions will continue to generate revenue from the sales of products to these customers. However, this will come at the

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“We believe the benefits related to higher contract compliance, more efficient customer reach, lower sales commissions in certain cases, and the additional opportunity to capture overall gross transaction volume sales more than outweigh the incremental fees [Business Solutions] will incur for using the platform,” commented the CFO.

ODP hosted a demonstration and analyst presentation of Varis at the Nasdaq in early March. There, it gave the example of a 2,000-store retailer that is a customer of Business Solutions. Its customised catalogue was digitised and is now hosted on the Varis platform.

The result, said ODP, was a 90% adoption rate in the space of a few weeks, much less off-contract spend via purchase cards and a 20% uptick in revenue from this customer for Business Solutions.

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