Workplace360: It’s an exciting time at Office Power. You have launched a new campaign called Power Select. What is Power Select all about?
Richard Sinclair: Power Select is the evolution of Office Power, demonstrating our dedication to offering customisable technology solutions for businesses. We’ve made significant financial investments and dedicated several years in developing our platform to allow businesses to tailor their technology needs. Our product provides a comprehensive solution for all e-commerce and back-end functions and is adaptable to various business models in the UK and Europe.
Power Select is about empowering businesses with the flexibility to configure their technology solution as they see fit, whether by selecting to use only our technology solution or by partnering with us to utilise some of our complementary trading, operational and marketing services.
W360: So, you identify as a technology provider rather than a service provider?
RS: Yes, absolutely; we are primarily a tech company that provides complementary services. For the past ten years, we have invested in building a technology platform to re-engineer the e-commerce world for SMEs/MSEs. Simplifying e-commerce and back-end operations through a single ‘customer-first’ system. We are the only single solution on the market where you don’t have to work with multiple systems and vendors.
W360: It sounds like your plans are to disrupt the technology space. What sets your platform apart from others on the market?
RS: We are incredibly focused on developing ‘customer-first’ technology. It’s important to start with the fact that traditional ERPs need to evolve. According to Forrester, many old ERP systems can’t keep up with the speed and flexibility that e-commerce demands nowadays. And that’s where our platform comes in. We’ve developed a next-gen, all-in-one solution that streamlines and automates business operations. By bringing everything together in a centralised system – managing customer interactions and business performance all in one place – we eliminate the headaches and costs associated with managing disjointed system setups.
W360: Interesting! You mentioned customer-first technology; what exactly does this mean?
RS: When we say ‘customer-first’, we mean that we’re all about making technology that gives end users the best experience from start to finish.
Mark Heath: As companies expand, disjointed systems for accounting, CRM, e-commerce platform, and again a separate ERP often become a nightmare to manage since it’s costly and time-consuming. Our single cloud-based platform unifies data, streamlines operations, and ensures a consistent customer and staff experience across all touchpoints and channels.
W360: I thought the Office Power platform was only for dropship models. Aren’t you only integrated with one wholesaler?
MH: No, that isn’t accurate. We meticulously designed the Office Power platform using modern technology, allowing dealers to configure their purchasing and logistics to suit their preferred business model. Dealers are free to choose their suppliers and end- user delivery solutions. Our platform really shines with its endless aisle features and multi-catalogue integrations. This means we handle all the tricky stuff with EDI and API data integrations from different wholesalers and suppliers.
Dealers can buy from anywhere they want. Plus, it automates catalogue production, cost and stock feeds, end-user pricing and ordering. By bringing all these processes together into one single system, our platform supports businesses in cutting down on costs related to excess stock, running out of items and inefficient supply chains, which not only reduces transactional costs but also boosts the bottom line.
W360: How does the platform help make more informed, strategic decisions?
MH: As mentioned earlier, the fact that our platform is one single software is a huge benefit. With Power Select, dealers can elevate their decision-making with our real-time analytics and reporting tools. Through customer behaviour monitoring, gap analysis tools and industry benchmarking tools, our technology enables dynamic targeting, segmentation and personalisation, which results in delivering the right product, pricing and offers to the right customers at the right time.
Also, with our comprehensive reporting, analytics and Power BI integrations, you can generate professional, customer-facing reports that provide actionable insights, helping you make strategic decisions with confidence and precision.
W360: How do you provide a competitive advantage for dealers using your technology?
RS: The entire platform is designed to improve efficiency, eliminate time-consuming manual processes and optimise your customer experience and profitable sales. The back-end features streamline procurement, supply chain management, stock management, logistics, and finance operations, providing dealers with the flexibility needed to compete in a multichannel world.
MH: One example on the front end is our Multilayered Pricing and Promotion Tool, which allows you to optimise and manage your pricing strategy with ease. Whether you’re looking to set up dynamic pricing, handle contracts or use segmented pricing tools, our Power Select model simplifies everything. It takes the complexity out of managing large customer bases and supply chains. Ultimately, it supports dealers in driving ideal pricing and seizing every revenue opportunity across various customer segments.
W360: You’ve obviously invested much time and money in this new back-end system. How robust is the front end?
MH: This is where having a fully integrated system with real- time data really makes a difference – no more waiting on those slow overnight uploads. With Office Power’s front end, we’ve got something unique: a single view of the customer and complete real-time data, showing them all their own information. What’s great about it is the level of personalisation and control you get; you can tailor the front end experience for each customer, fine- tuning things like product ranges, merchandising, promotions and pricing. In addition, our dynamic audience targeting and cross-sell features make everything even more adaptable. And the best part? That single system view ensures a consistent experience across all channels including PunchOut!
W360: How will the new Power Select model impact existing Office Power dealers?
RS: The year 2023/24 has been exceptionally successful for Office Power, marked by record growth across our dealer base. Our current dealers are already benefiting from all the new features we’ve added to the Power Select model. Everyone gets full access to everything because we don’t believe in holding back with version controls.
With our flexible services, we’ve attracted a wide range of dealers. Some still choose to outsource everything to us, while others pick and choose the parts of our partnership that work best for them. This flexibility means that no matter how our dealers want to configure things, they’re always getting the latest updates and improvements.
W360: Sounds promising! Is moving to Office Power difficult?
MH: Not at all. We take care of the entire onboarding process to make sure everything goes smoothly. Our team does all the heavy lifting, from setting things up to getting everything in place, so it fits perfectly with your business. We put a lot of effort into making the transition as seamless as possible, including the transfer of customer historical data.
W360: What’s next for Office Power?
RS: We’re always working on developing our technology further. Right now, we’re diving into how AI can enhance e-commerce, search and sales performance, and we’re branching out into expanding our supplier integrations across new emerging verticals as our dealers diversify their offering into wider business supplies solutions. We’ve also got a very talented technology leadership team that is constantly on the lookout for the latest tech innovations.
MH: We’re very excited about what’s coming up on our roadmap – it’s packed with developments that are going to be great for all our current dealers. These changes will keep us ahead of industry trends and help push the workplace supplies sector to become a global leader in e-commerce.
