Dealers – Do You Have a Strategy…Or Do You Just Have Habits?

The UK office supplies reseller market is very dear to my heart, but I can’t help believing it has been running on muscle memory for years. Not because people are lazy — far from it — but because the industry was built in a time when selling office products was simple.

Back then, a catalogue and a smile were enough. Walk through the door, say hello, and chances are you’d leave with an order. Low competition, buoyant market, easy sales, predictable margins.

Today? That world is gone. Amazon took the convenience. The internet took the mystery. Next‑day delivery became standard, not special.

So here’s an uncomfortable truth: many dealers are no longer solving a customer problem.

Anyone can buy office supplies. Any time. From anywhere.

And that’s why the old model of generalist reps, single-category focus, and “more items in the catalogue” doesn’t work anymore. Not for growth. Not for relevance. Not for survival.

Diversification Isn’t Optional — But It Isn’t Simple Either

Most dealers know they need to diversify. The problem is how they diversify.

Some jump into a new category with no GTM.
Some assume customers care about “one supplier for everything.”
Some think reps can just “have a go.”

That’s how categories flatline. Or worse — backfire.

There are two kinds of diversification – related and unrelated – and the industry rarely distinguishes them:

Related diversification

Products that arrive in a box.
Just like OP.

Think:

• Cleaning & hygiene
• PPE
• Breakroom items

Easy to add, low risk, and supported by existing wholesalers like VOW and Exertis.

Unrelated diversification

Products that are bespoke.
Manufactured. Variable. Deadline‑driven.

Think:

• Print
• Workwear
• MPS

These categories can transform your business — or destroy customer trust if you’re not ready.

And I’ve seen the consequences up close.

The £100k Christmas Card Mistake

A dealer once took an order for corporate Christmas cards. Not a huge job, but important — the kind of thing a chairman signs off.

The OP rep took the order, found a supplier, and… forgot to ask the delivery date.
Didn’t confirm timelines.
Didn’t tell the customer when they’d arrive.

The cards showed up after Christmas.

The chairman exploded
— and the dealer lost the entire account.
£100,000 a year. Gone.

Why?
Because a generalist rep tried to manage a bespoke process they didn’t understand.

Lack of knowledge isn’t harmless. It’s dangerous.

So What’s the Right Way to Diversify?

It’s not complicated — but it requires discipline.

Here’s the structure that works:

• Segment customers
• Choose a category you believe in
• Build the GTM before you hire anyone
• Hire category specialists (non-negotiable if you want to really get it right)
• Train OP reps – not in just the products themselves, but in the way to sell the category
• Build incentives to shape behaviour
• Test the supply chain (before you go live)
• Run a pilot
• Scale with discipline

Do this, and you can double your revenue with your existing base.
Ignore this, and you’ll repeat the same cycles the industry has been stuck in for years.

The Real Takeaway

Diversification can transform a dealer business — or expose every weakness in it.

The difference isn’t the category.
It’s the strategy, the discipline, and the expertise behind it.

If you’re a dealer reading this, here’s the question I’d leave you with:

What’s the category you should truly own — but currently treat like a side project?