ESSENDANT CFO RECOGNISES STAPLES THREAT
Essendant CFO Earl Shanks has said that the new mid-market push by Staples could be a threat to some of its independent dealer customers.
Essendant CFO Earl Shanks has said that the new mid-market push by Staples could be a threat to some of its independent dealer customers.
Shanks was responding to a question put by Jefferies analyst Dan Binder during the Jefferies Global Consumer Conference in Nantucket (NY) yesterday.
However, while Shanks said that dealers traditionally win on service aspects and through their customer relationships, he pointed out that Essendant’s mission was to “enable all our customers to be successful” and was certainly not critical of Staples’ new mid-market strategy that was announced recently.
Shanks confirmed that Essendant’s office products sales have increased by about 4% year on year at the start of 2016 despite ongoing secular declines in the region of 3-5%. Core sales have been helped by new contract wins at the start of the year, something Shanks put down to the common office products and jan/san ordering platform, Essendant’s digital capabilities and to “a willingness” to help dealers grow in the market.
He also said that the wholesaler was “disappointed” the Staples/Office Depot acquisition did not go through. If it had, of course, Essendant would have acquired around $500 million in diversity contracts from Staples. Now, he said, the wholesaler’s growth of its corporate accounts business – now worth about $200 million in annual sales – would have to be organic.
Deerfield (IL), USA
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