5 minute read
Advertorial
by OPI
DISPLAY diversification
The viscom sector is booming. One way to stay on this upward trajectory is to keep innovating and breaking down traditional boundaries
Gone are the days of narrow product sets and industry-specific demands – definitions of the words ‘visual’ and ‘communications’ have exploded. As has the potential for maximising that explosion, according to Nicola Forani, Director of Business Development at Showdown Displays Europe (pictured above). Forani recently spoke to OPI about the company’s state of play in Europe.
OPI: For those of our readers not familiar with your business, please tell me a bit about Showdown Displays.
Nicola Forani: Showdown Displays Europe is a manufacturer and supplier of visual communication, event and display products. We are a subsidiary of private equity-owned Showdown Displays which operates from Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, in the US.
The company has existed since 1995 and, in Europe, was initially known as Jansen Display. After the merger in 2020 of Jansen with Dutch event display wholesaler Promic Display Systems, Showdown Displays Europe was born. We are now a global market leader in the display market.
We have a production facility at our European headquarters in the Czech Republic where we manufacture a wide range of products, including lockable noticeboards, showcases, poster-, snap- and A-frames, and digital signage. Aside from our European HQ, we also have offices and warehouses in the Netherlands (Nederweert) and Spain (Barcelona).
OPI: How do you go to market to reach your end customer?
NF: Our route to market in Europe is quite simple – we sell exclusively to resellers and distributors which, in the office supplies sector, means traditional OP companies that put our products in their printed catalogues or online assortment.
Other industries we serve are the point-of-sale market and the sign and print sector, where we sell to printing firms and event operators. The promotional products market and hospitality industry are also key verticals for us.
Our biggest geographical destinations are Germany, the Netherlands and France, with rapid growth now coming from Southern Europe as well.
OPI: What does Showdown Displays bring to the table that you would highlight as a real competitive advantage?
NF: One of our core USPs is definitely ‘Made in Europe’. We are a full-service supplier for companies looking for a comprehensive viscom assortment – produced in Europe. And we are organised in a way that we can drop-ship product directly to the end-customer. This, in our opinion, is a really important factor because, with this service component, we take a lot of work out of our customers’ hands.
One of the key factors of our success is flexibility and responsiveness. This is visible in all our processes, from R&D all the way to
day-to-day operations. We are able to quickly respond to market developments and end customer needs. And we listen to our resellers as they are in direct contact with the end user.
Our mission statement is ‘Great products, legendary customer experiences’. This manifests itself in real partnerships with resellers. We want to help them sell as many of our products as possible and we do that in a variety of ways.
Our marketing team, for instance, makes it very easy for existing partners to add more products to their assortment while at the same time helping to onboard new clients. A wide range of printing solutions and customisation options are core to what we do.
And we know how crucial product content is. As such, we offer a broad range of collateral, including high-quality photos, instructional videos, inspirational content, neutral leaflets, in-use visualisations, etc.
Technology is vital too. We are always working on further evolving our online reseller platform where customers can find details of their order history, re-order and view stock and price information. Our IT team, meanwhile, is constantly enhancing automation and developing ERP integrations via API and EDI connections.
OPI: What about new product development?
NF: It’s really important. We design new products every year to expand our portfolio and launch about 20-30 items. OP firms today are looking to continually diversify their ranges and a broad spectrum of fresh items helps them to easily cross-sell to their customers.
We have a team of in-house product designers and engineers who create products from scratch – from idea to design and from prototype to production in our own facility. Alongside that, we regularly update our portfolio with adaptations to existing products, in line with changing needs or trends. We also produce non-standard items that we design exclusively for customers’ businesses.
Our R&D team is currently finalising the 2023 portfolio which includes unique digital signage solutions and a range of outdoor products.
OPI: How would you describe the viscom sector as it stands today?
NF: Thankfully, after initially being hit by COVID-19, it’s now rapidly growing again. But with the ongoing supply chain constraints, many companies prefer to work with European producers – supplier reliability is key.
The whole industry is changing and traditional boundaries are becoming less rigid. We often get questions from our office supplies reseller partners about products that serve different types of industries. As they diversify and expand their assortment, they no longer just sell the standard viscom items for the office – think the hospitality space, for example.
E-commerce operators in particular are broadening their scope as they become one-stop shops. This channel has represented our biggest growth in sales recently.
With regards to specific items, we are seeing a lot of demand for printed products – for logo personalisation or company branding, but also for decorative and signage purposes. We produce these items with standard print designs, and drop-ship them to the end customer – no need for a graphic designer or special software to complete anything.
We are also noticing that viscom is becoming more and more part of interior design preferences – both in office and home office settings – rather than a mere functionality.
Digital signage, of course, is huge, and we manufacture digital display solutions which are easy to use, without special software. Digital A-boards and totems are typically used in reception, meeting and showroom areas.
Finally, there is an increase in demand for eco-friendly products which we’re in the process of addressing with the use of more sustainable materials. This is very high on the agenda for us right now and ties in with the company’s CSR policies.
Showdown Displays’ production and logistics facilities in the Czech Republic (left and right) and its offices in the Netherlands (middle)
OPI: Where do you see the sector – and Showdown Displays – going in the future?
NF: Industries will continue to merge and diversification will become non-negotiable. We are here to help them accelerate and be successful wherever they choose to go – in the process becoming the number one choice in the visual communications category.
