Major workplace supplies and services provider Banner has held an open day for potential and existing IT equipment suppliers who are seeking growth opportunities.
The free of charge event took place at the Marriott Hotel, Leicester, on Wednesday 24 July 2019.
Banner’s sales during 2017-18 outperformed the market in many categories, including technology products, where year-on-year growth was 57 per cent.
Craig Varey, Banner Managing Director, said: “We grew sales of supplier products year-on-year overall by more than 10 per cent in the first quarter of 2019. This followed strongly on from six per cent growth last year. Throughout 2018, we retained an exceptionally high percentage of existing customers and we continued to recruit new clients and win market share via success in two out of every three new business pitches that we completed. We’re keen to share our success with all IT goods suppliers, new and existing.”
Citing reasons for Banner’s performance, Craig said its 370-strong customer facing workforce functioned as an extension of IT equipment suppliers’ own business development teams. Selling via a mix of methods, including online, phone and face-to-face, it effectively gave them access, via knowledgeable professionals, to 50,000 active customers who placed orders with Banner.
Craig said Banner’s performance for IT and technology product suppliers had been aided by other recent developments such as the organisation’s five acquisitions in the last 18 months; investment in areas such as stock, marketing and customer recruitment; improved warehouse efficiency; deployment of new technology across its market-leading e-commerce platform; and backing for Truline, its in-house business-to-business parcel delivery provider.
He said while Banner benefited from the scale of the EVO Group, of which it is a member, the company also had the ability to choose and develop its own focus areas. He recognised that certain suppliers of technology and IT products may have seen its sister organisation VOW Wholesale as their sole route to access Banner’s sales engine in the past, but expressed that Banner are keen to open up contact.
Craig said: “Our independence means we have the flexibility to create solutions suited to our target customer base. We’re able to make our own decisions about product ranges and stock levels which allow us to make agreements with IT equipment suppliers tailored to respond to the demands of the end-user marketplace we service.”
Banner, based in West Yorkshire, has eight other sales offices across the UK and Ireland. Its customers in the public, private and third sectors include some of the biggest FTSE 100 businesses, major banks, government departments, local authorities, charities, non-governmental organisations and small and medium-sized enterprises.
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