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OVER and OUT e end of both Staples With 2021 marking th te epot Europe as separa D ce ffi O d an ns tio lu So raithwaite takes a look entities, OPI’s Andy B e US power channel at the rise and fall of th fice products stage n of players on the Europea
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ive or take a few years, the international expansion and then retrenchment of the US-owned office products powerhouses, often still referred to as the ‘big boxes’ or, some time ago, the ‘power channel’, tie in nicely with the 30-year history of OPI. Indeed, one of the most common themes running through this magazine’s pages over the decades (and, since 1999, the opi.net website) has been industry consolidation. And that is something which, in Europe and on a global scale, has been heavily influenced by the actions of US behemoths. The list initially included the likes of Viking, Boise Cascade Office Products (BOP), US Office Products and Corporate Express (CE), but it eventually became a two-horse race as Office Depot and Staples gradually took out the competition.
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THE BEGINNING Going back to 1991, OPI’s year of creation, and the OP reseller channel was still highly fragmented, with the biggest trends arguably the rapid growth of the superstores in the US and the start of a consolidation frenzy in the contract segment. Ironically, if we are to talk about a global player in those days, it was not a US firm, but Netherlands-based Buhrmann-Tetterode (BT) – which would eventually become Corporate
Express – that was leading the way, acquiring dealers both in Europe and the US. However, as former Office Depot EVP Doug Ramsdale notes, the landscape was starting to change and the industry was breaking out of its shell, with one US leader in particular setting out on its international journey. “The beginning of the ‘going public’ craze in the industry at the same time as the rapid expansion of the superstores underlined that a higher growth rate justified a much higher multiple – and growth became a god,” he says. According to Ramsdale, one of the first companies to sense it had plateaued on its home patch was Viking. After doing his homework on the UK market during an attempt to acquire direct marketer Neat Ideas in 1990, CEO Irwin Helford decided to take his brand across the Atlantic.
“Our International business has enormous growth potential across all brands and channels, and we plan to continue to allocate a disproportionate share of our capital to accelerate our growth potential outside of North America, especially in Europe.” Bruce Nelson, CEO, Office Depot, Annual Report 2002
