Workplace360 asked two paper merchant representatives – Matthew Fisher, Sales Director, North and Office Papers at Premier Paper and Paul Savill, Category Manager at Antalis – for an update on the sector.
Workplace360: Office paper volumes continue to decline. Where do you still see genuine growth routes for dealers?
Matthew Fisher: Tinted paper represents a growth avenue, with one in five UK students identified as having SEN. Demand also remains strong for traditional A-grade paper, which dealers should be pushing to secure healthier margins than commodity grades allow.
Paul Savill: The opportunities in paper lie in value, expertise and category breadth rather than volume alone. The traditional transactional conversation around office paper – focused purely on how much you use and what you pay – is becoming less effective in a declining market. More importantly, it doesn’t unlock the full potential within the category.
The dealers that grow will be those that treat paper as part of a broader business offering and help customers to pick the right paper for the right application. Dealers have a clear chance to move beyond entry-level copier grades and build a more profitable, higher-value paper basket.
W360: How can dealers move the conversation away from price and sell on value instead?
MF: Rather than treating paper as a simple door-opener, dealers should use the conversation to explore what else they can offer. Stocking a wider paper range allows dealers to become a total solutions provider, rather than just a supplier of commodity, price-driven grades.
PS: Paper should be sold on performance, print quality, environmental profile and fitness for purpose. If a dealer takes time to understand how a customer uses paper across its organisation, the dialogue quickly broadens beyond the price of a ream.
A consultative approach lets dealers match product specification to clients’ actual needs – from everyday office printing to customer-facing documents, branded materials and specialist print applications. Once a customer understands the value that the right paper choice delivers – in consistency, presentation, sustainability or print performance – the discussion naturally shifts from lowest cost to overall benefit and paves the way to a higher-margin mix.
W360: Are there any paper products that are currently overlooked by dealers but which have strong sales potential?
MF: After years of decline, tinted paper sales are on the rise, partly driven by the growing use of coloured paper in educational establishments to help SEN students manage visual stress.
PS: Resellers are highly effective at supplying core office paper, but there’s untapped potential in adjacent categories such as premium office paper, colour paper and large-format products. These meet real customer needs and often deliver stronger returns.
Often, the opportunity is not about finding new business; it’s about selling more into the accounts that dealers already hold.
W360: What should dealers know about recycled paper and sustainability credentials?
MF: We all want to be environmentally responsible and offering Woodland Trust paper, for example, provides a way to balance cost with a strong ecological choice. The money raised through its Carbon Capture programme goes directly to the Woodland Trust to protect, restore and create native woodland in the UK.
Other options include Steinbeis, a 100% recycled paper with no optical bleaching agents, making it ideal for SEN applications – and it comes at a budget-friendly price. For a high-white recycled product, Evolution Everyday and Evolution Business are strong choices. Most organisations now have ESG policies, so offering a green range is an easy win – and these products don’t have to be expensive.
PS: Dealers should tackle conversations about sustainability with clarity, confidence and balance. That means understanding the difference between recycled and virgin fibre products, knowing what certifications such as FSC, PEFC and the EU Ecolabel represent, and being aware of the implications of evolving legislation such as the EUDR.
Such discussions should stay relevant to customers’ actual priorities, guiding them towards an informed choice that balances sustainability, specification and budget. A good example is U:create, our recently launched A4 75gsm bright white printing paper for home and office use. U:create is carbon balanced as standard through the World Land Trust, which supports global programmes that protect and restore threatened areas of high biodiversity.
W360: If you had to give dealers one piece of advice for growing paper sales over the next 12 months, what would it be?
MF: Talk about sustainability and how you can help your customers to achieve their goals. Offer products with clear environmental benefits at no extra cost. These could include papers with fully recyclable paper ream wrappers and no PE plastic coating, for example – and explain that they can recycle the wrappers along with general waste.
PS: The strongest growth will come from dealers that invest time in understanding a client’s workplace, applications and priorities, then use that insight to recommend the right paper and product mix.
A quick transactional win on a pallet of commodity white paper may bring short-term volume, but it rarely builds long-term loyalty or meaningful differentiation. Dealers should also make full use of the support available from specialist suppliers.
