Hot Topic

IT’S NOT ALWAYS what you know…

The notion of buying locally has been embraced over the past year. But what happens when pandemic restrictions are lifted, and that warm and cuddly feeling subsides?

– by Michelle Sturman

Since March 2020, few aspects of business life have warranted a high five, but there are some minor exceptions. One of them is the goodwill and increased adoption of buying locally. While e-commerce soared to unprecedented heights, office and store closures combined also elicited sympathy and a new-found appreciation for small business owners.

Traditionally, buy local campaigns have predominantly targeted retail, but with employees sent home to work, our sector has been able to piggyback on such strategies. There has also been renewed emphasis on lobbying to shift purchasing patterns to independently-owned businesses while seeking to curtail the dominance of online operators like Amazon.

The definition of ‘local’ is as ambiguous as ever, with the waters muddied by corporations muscling in with ‘local-washing’ campaigns – their argument being that they employ people from the neighbourhoods. It also throws up a link – some may argue a tenuous one – to the concept of ‘made in’, especially in the US under the Trump Administration and in the UK following Brexit.

Be that as it may, on the back of stimulating local economies, growing environmental concerns, and with supply chains currently stretched to the max, ‘made in’ is definitely gaining traction globally.

ON THE WANE?

Local purchasing activity ramped up during the pandemic, but as we gradually emerge from over a year of restrictions, is ‘buy local’ on the wane? OPI spoke to several executives in our industry who are heavily involved in campaigning for community businesses and believe the sentiment for ‘buy local’ or ‘made in’ will remain strong.

In the US, Kansas City, Missouri-based independent dealer Office Products Alliance (OPA), has had the buy local point entrenched in everything it does; it has been its overriding brand strategy for years.

opi.net poll

Does being actively involved in a buy local campaign help to increase sales?

n Yes n Not sure n No

29% 32%

39%

Owner/President Mark Whitlow says the issue has never been more critical to the independent dealer community (IDC) than now as we emerge from the pandemic. “While office staff were working from home, many jumped online to purchase products. As they head back to the workplace, we want to break that habit and remind them why they were purchasing from us 18 months ago.”

In some ways, COVID-19 has reinforced OPA’s status, becoming a ‘local hero’ as the company turned on a dime to provide critical products. Marketing Director Amie Stinson explains: “We were effective in sourcing scarce items for our customers as well as promoting them to those who were in need.”

Over the past year, getting the message out to existing clientele and potential purchasers hasn’t always been easy, but OPA has used social media to great effect. Stinson says it’s involved on different platforms with as many Kansas City companies as possible in the hope they share the love. “Overall, I do get a hefty response and it’s constantly trending up,” she adds.

OPENING DOORS

While social media bears some of the heavy lifting in terms of brand awareness, OPA’s sales team messaging is based on creating a difference in the community by buying local. Says Whitlow: “If we convince customers to spend a few extra minutes to look at our history, our offering, and the fact their dollars stay local, they realise it makes perfect sense to work with us. Once the door is opened, we are usually very successful.”

Moving forward, Stinson’s focus is on building the company’s ‘personality’, and highlighting the benefits of working with a local independent dealer versus the big boxes. Advancing the local notion further, OPA’s website showcases team members with short video biographies. “This is a campaign in itself,” adds Whitlow. “Customers see the human face of OPA, literally, and realise our team is based right here in Kansas City.”

Against the onslaught of e-commerce, COVID, and industry consolidation, it’s no surprise Whitlow issues a rallying cry for a more cohesive effort from dealers. “Decision-makers in government need to listen to what we have to offer because we can serve anyone at any level. There are so few of us left in the IDC, we need to band together and work collectively on a countrywide ‘local’ campaign – not as competitors but as partners.”

Getting their dealers together under one cohesive buy local strategy is exactly what combined UK-based dealer groups Nemo and Office Club have been doing over the past year.

Pre-pandemic, they were already in the throes of a B2B National Office Products Keep It Local Campaign, prompted by feedback from members that were being denied the chance to bid for large government tenders. Spurred on by an announcement that one-third of public sector spend was going to be allocated to local companies by 2022, the groups wanted to ensure their 330 or so members were offered a fair shot.

As COVID took hold, the campaign evolved and a website was launched in June 2020 – www. keep-it-local.co.uk – detailing all the benefits of buying local. Gaining traction, ‘find a store’ was added which became a positive lead generator for dealers. Currently, the website receives an average of around 6,000 visitors a month, with almost 80% using the store finder to locate the nearest supplier for office products.

ALL ABOUT ENGAGEMENT

To drum up as much engagement as possible, Nemo Office Club offers a complete marketing support package to members. This includes template letters to send to MPs to support the initiative and gain visibility within town councils.

Says Marketing Manager Alan Calder: “When the pandemic arrived, everyone became a little friendlier towards each other, accelerating the ‘keeping it local’ sentiment. To promote the visibility of dealers in the wider community, we also provided template articles they could use to send to the press, for example.

“One dealer featured in his community magazine for being proactively involved in the Keep It Local campaign. This has led to the opportunity to bid on a local tender – something he has been trying to achieve for 20 years!”

Building on the momentum, the group launched the Office Circle e-commerce platform in February this year to establish a national network of business supplies firms offering local delivery from one central website.

“While the concept is not new, the website offers over 30,000 SKUs and 70% of orders are from businesses. It generates over 120 leads a month for our members,” says Calder. He adds: “It’s an opportunity for dealers to convert orders into customers when they deliver the products and introduce themselves as the local supplier.”

Engagement represents the key ingredient for a successful buy local campaign, according to Calder. “While we didn’t have to sell the concept to members, we had to make them want to be a part of it and see the benefits. We were effective by providing the tools necessary to enable them to create their own success stories.”

MAKING LOCAL WORK DOWN UNDER

Many miles away in Australia and due to intermittent lockdowns since March last year, local – in a country with few densely populated areas – has become hyperlocal, as a result of a severely restricted travel radius.

Boosted by a national Making Local Work campaign by Office Choice, its members have also been reaping the benefits. Explaining the concept, the dealer group’s National Marketing Manager Cameron Osborne says the initiative was originally due to be launched in August 2020 after spending months building the strategy in response to customer feedback – they like using Office Choice because of the local service and community participation.

COVID accelerated the group’s response and Making Local Work was launched a few months earlier in June. “I turned the campaign around in lockdown in about six weeks, from my living room. The timing played into our hands and we got really lucky. Since then, the initiative has continued to grow legs as members have climbed on board and customers have got behind supporting local businesses,” he notes.

When the pandemic started, Office Choice had also produced a work-from-home strategy with heavy promotion through digital videos, Facebook and Google AdWords. “As a result, there was an instant increase in web traffic because our message resonated with people as they hunted for home office furniture, PPE, etc,” says Osborne.

Capitalising on the steep rise in website enquiries, the group swiftly launched a national e-commerce platform to coincide with the Making Local Work campaign.

While many members wryly told Office Choice they had always been ‘doing local’, the whole initiative not only solidified the concept in the eyes of their customers but provided a full brand strategy and tools for dealers to utilise. “We’ve done the marketing for them, including a range of videos, broadcasts on on-demand TV, online advertising through Facebook and Google, promotions, and so on,” Osborne explains.

Making Local Work is now incorporated in every touchpoint – website, brochures, catalogue, email signatures – and will run as a multi-year strategy. Currently, the team is readying phase two for launch which, Osborne says, will focus on community-related programmes. “I see ‘buy local’ expanding to include ‘support local’. It’s more than merely being a supplier; it’s about being an active participant in the community you serve.”

As mentioned before, and broadening the view of buy local further, ‘made in’ products have also been gaining in popularity. After launching its first-ever catalogue solely dedicated to business supplies products made in France, OPI spoke with Laurent Bertrand, Managing Director of

We need to band together and work collectively on a countrywide ‘local’ campaign – not as competitors but as partners

France-based reseller Lacoste Dactyl Bureau & École (LDBE) about the reasons behind the move.

At the time, the new catalogue had been in circulation for around three months. But what drove the company to introduce it in the first place?

TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

Bertrand believes we all have to take responsibility for optimising the supply chain and how business, in general, is conducted.

COVID, he explains, brought this realisation to the fore. “The current craziness surrounding container prices, coupled with the fact that most products ship from Asia, brought about the realisation that we have to promote European goods, both in terms of economics and the environmental impact.”

The response so far to the catalogue has been positive, with just under 2,000 products from well-known brands including BIC, Hamelin, Exacompta Clairefontaine, CEP, Pentel and Pilot Corporation. “We’ve received a great response from customers. They have been even keener on local purchasing and buying French products since the onset of the pandemic. The option to select only items made in France is also available on our website,” he adds.

The constant battle over price is one which dealers must overcome, Bertrand says, but he believes that although it will take time, building different arguments based on sustainability, product life cycle and buying local will lead to change. “I truly believe the ‘Made in France’ catalogue is the first step in the right direction.”

While he acknowledges there can be difficulties with manufacturing in France due to complicated and strict employment laws, he is pleased with the support from local vendors towards the catalogue. Further down the line, the hope is to enlarge the offering in categories such as health and hygiene, packaging and breakroom, to service the needs of all its customers.

STAND UP AND FIGHT

Banding together, providing a great brand strategy and locally manufactured products might not be enough to fight against the rising tide of ‘Big Tech’, however, especially in the e-commerce arena. Governments need to be lobbied to support and protect small, independent businesses.

This is why people such as Independent Office Products and Furniture Dealer Association (IOPFDA) Executive Director Mike Tucker are renowned and revered in the industry – for always standing up and fighting for the IDC.

A significant part of the battle is raising awareness and advocating for SMBs, which resulted in the introduction of the National Small Business Workplace Solutions Week (NSBWSW) in the US. Starting on 28 March, the week-long virtual Capitol Hill fly-in focused on educating Congress on the needs of small businesses and sharing solutions on policies that provide opportunities to cut red tape in the fight against large corporate competitors.

“It’s undoubtedly put a positive light on, not just our industry, but small business in general. Office supplies dealers were considered essential during the pandemic and their work really demonstrated their spirit and backbone. Most have been recognised as heroes in their community, especially for doing things to support something other than their bottom line,” comments Tucker.

He’s pleased with the outcome of the NSBWSW in terms of pushing congressional activity, especially involving Big Tech and federal and local government. However, subsequent annual events will shift the focus to acknowledging the role of independent dealers.

“Advocacy will remain the core of the week and ensuring government leaders are doing the right things to support us, but it will become more of a celebration of who we are, what we do. The aim is to make dealers and customers proud that profits stay in the community they serve and help,” Tucker elaborates.

He plans to use NSBWSW as a foundation for promoting our industry and dealers by creating a PR campaign building up to the event, which will take place in the last week of March. “We’ll call attention to the ‘noble job of distribution’; there are so many incredible stories to tell which I think will inspire people further.”

THE RISE OF SMALL BUSINESS

IOPFDA is also part of a coalition of 25 independent business organisations, representing more than 150,000 companies that are involved in the Small Business Rising campaign. Spearheaded by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, the group has been lobbying Congress to curb the power of Big Tech: Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google.

Here, Tucker says, IOPFDA is leading the charge in terms of what’s happening in the federal space. Recently, the House Judiciary Committee voted to approve a six-bill package of antitrust legislation to rein in Big Tech, including one to block some of Amazon’s practices against third-party sellers. Says Tucker: “We’re pretty excited about it, but as Yogi Berra said: ‘It ain’t over till it’s over’.”

The aim is to make dealers and customers proud that profits stay in the community they serve and help