30
| P2P Magazine | Spring 2016
01732 759725
QUESTIONNAIRE
6
OP Back office systems
There has been a revolution in the Office
Product reseller community thanks to
the emergence over the last 20 years of
companies that supply complete back
office systems that handle everything
from placing orders, accounts and stock
control to web and e-trading.
I am particularly impressed with
recent entrants to the UK market, such
as Prima and Office Power. It will be
interesting to see if this model transfers
successfully to the rest of Europe.
My Favourite Things
1
A Good Quality Fountain Pen
I absolutely love my fountain pens and
believe it says something about you,
especially when meeting someone in a
business situation for the first time.
My current favourites are aWaterman
and a Pilot retractable fountain pen.
Both write superbly and are great quality
products that have seen over 10 years of
good service. As many would say, “The
quality is remembered long after the
price is forgotten”.
2
A Good Quality Notebook
It seems quite strange that in these days
of mobile technology, sales of good
quality notebooks are increasing at a
dramatic rate in both Europe and the
USA.
There are many brands, including
Moleskin and Paperblanks, but I currently
use a Conceptum notebook from Sigel,
which is superb quality and can be
labelled and archived after use. It is also
essential that the paper does not bleed,
as I use a fountain pen, and that the
pages are indexed for easy reference.
3
Correction Tape
This is my wife’s choice. It is a product
she discovered about two years ago
that now lives permanently in our
kitchen. I was most surprised that she
loves this product, as I was always under
the impression that she never made
mistakes!
The correction tape she currently
uses is from a Japanese company
called Tombow and is really easy to
use and great quality.
4
Dymo Labelwriter
This is a totally personal choice and
relates to my time as Sales Director
at Esselte. In 2004 we launched the
industry’s biggest ever TV advertising
campaign and, with a product range
that had sold 3,000 units in the previous
year, we sold more than 30,000 in just
6 months. This was probably the most
exciting period in my long sales career.
The product range is still going strong,
although Esselte sold Dymo to Newell
soon after the end of the campaign.
5
Glass Magnetic Notice Boards
This is one of the fastest growing
product ranges for Office Product
resellers in the UK and Europe, with
sales in the UK now in excess of 10,000
units.
These fantastic products are seen
everywhere, from homes and offices
to restaurants, and are a refreshing
development of traditional dry-wipe or
felt notice boards.
Pen To Paper
asks Mike James, Court Assistant at the Stationers’
Company, to list his six favourite items of stationery, IT and office
equipment.
TheWaterman
Exception Solid
Gold fountain
pen cost £6,495
when it was
launched in
2006.
Exciting times:
the Dymo
Labelwriter
Conceptum
notebooks
Mike James,
Court Assistant,
Stationers’ Company
Tombow
correction tape
from Stone
Marketing
