Workplace360: Last February, COLOP UK altered its go-to-market strategy and partnered with Greenstik Materials. What’s the story behind this?
Chris Deighton: Since I joined COLOP in 2019, a lot has changed – especially in the wake of COVID. During the pandemic, business levels held up fairly well, but as the return to office stalled, trading became more challenging.
The tipping point came when our landlord hit us with a 50% rent increase halfway through our ten-year lease. That wasn’t sustainable, and with our break clause coming up simultaneously, it was a chance for COLOP Austria to rethink its UK operations.
Greenstik Materials had been a long-standing COLOP customer and an agreement was reached to take on the economic activities of COLOP UK. From a customer’s perspective, not much has changed – the transition was smooth and we were able to transfer some of the team over to Greenstik Materials, thus retaining core knowledge. Crucially, we also held onto our COLOP email addresses and customers are still able to use sales@colop.co.uk to contact us.
W360: How has all that affected growth and strategy?
CD: Over the past year, purchase volumes have increased, particularly on our core traditional products. The current focus is very much on being more customer-centric.
Now that the transition to Greenstik Materials is complete, I have time to concentrate on selling, which is a big positive. A lot of energy has gone into maintaining service levels over the past 12 months, but now we can take a step back, plan and be increasingly proactive in our approach.
W360: Anything new happening in the mobile stamping space?
CD: We are on the third generation of the e-mark – the e-mark go – but this time it’s more geared towards the craft market. Back in 2019, COLOP received great recognition for the launch of the original e-mark. Unfortunately, COVID hit soon after, making it impossible to get out there, demonstrate the product and show people what it could do.
However, just before the pandemic, we had caught a lucky break: an introduction to TV shopping channels. Long story short, we stumbled into a whole new world of dedicated crafters. During COVID, being able to showcase the product live on TV was a game-changer. Then, as things started to return to normal, we took the e-mark to craft exhibitions and were overwhelmed by the response – consumers were eager to see it in action and ready to buy.
It’s why our latest version is focused more on the craft market rather than business. That said, businesses could absolutely find a use for it. COLOP is also gearing up to launch a new digital product, one that’s closely linked to one of our traditional lines. I’ll have to keep that under wraps for now, but there will be more information in the coming weeks!
W360: What opportunities are there for dealers outside the traditional stamping sector?
CD: The OP sector has seen a lot of diversification in recent years and COLOP is always looking to do the same – while keeping stamping at the heart of everything we do.
Traditionally, stamping is associated with paper, but we’ve expanded into other areas. For example, we have a dedicated clothing marker called Marky – perfect for the back-to-school season. We also offer a range of craft products, including craft stamps, and recently introduced the LaDot temporary tattoo stamps. LaDot has been a huge success across Europe, though we haven’t officially launched it in the UK yet.
W360: Temporary tattoo stamps…?
CD: Think of it like this: the stamp is a stone and you use an ink pad to apply the design onto your skin. Within the range, we also offer gemstones and colouring ink, so you can fill in the designs and personalise them.
Alongside craft and clothing stamps, there’s another area that we haven’t really talked about with dealers before: Reiner handheld inkjet printers. The Jet Stamp collection enables you to print on virtually any surface. There’s a variety of inks, some for paper and cardboard and others designed for more specialist applications such as metal, glass and plastic.
The printers are ideal for smaller manufacturers – especially in settings like bakeries, breweries and cosmetics – which don’t always have the volume to justify a full in-line system. That’s where a product like this comes in. Pricing ranges from £250 to £3,000, making it a flexible and cost-effective solution for smaller businesses.
Dealers today offer such a diverse array of solutions that this could be a real opportunity for them to tap into new industries.
W360: Should dealers contact you directly about the Reiner brand?
CD: That’s right. While Greenstik Materials is the UK distributor for the COLOP brand, we are also a distributor for Reiner. Dealers can send us a sample of the material their customer wants to print on – whether it’s glass, metal, plastic or something else. We’ll do test prints and send them back so they can see the results themselves. There’s also the option for a live demonstration – we can visit and showcase the product in action.
For our traditional stamping products, both Exertis Supplies and VOW Wholesale carry a full range of our core lines, and I’m also pleased to have recently signed a new agreement with Advantia, giving us full coverage across all the dealer groups. This puts us in a really strong position to serve workplace supplies dealers – whether they’re independent or part of a group.
W360: Dealers may not know much about Greenstik Materials, so what opportunities are available?
CD: There’s a lot to digest and see under the Greenstik banner, so I would encourage a visit to the website in the first instance. To save any potential confusion, Greenstik.co.uk is our label and slitting business (slitting of flexible materials), while Greenstik Materials has another arm under GM Crafts. Both of these businesses can be found on gmcrafts.co.uk.
W360: Finally, what are your future plans?
CD: While we operate in a very traditional office products sector, we still see significant opportunities. This extends to both our core range and in the fringe areas we’ve discussed, such as clothing markers, craft products, temporary tattoos and the Reiner brand.
Since the beginning of this year, we’ve been inundated with new customers and I aim to be more proactive within the dealer community. I’m always available to discuss possibilities and be more than happy to visit dealers and have those conversations in person as well as over the phone, of course.
