01732 759725 10 NEWS : Distributors Spicers opens trade counter for dealers in Greater Manchester area Wholesale office products and workplace supplies specialist Spicers has opened a dedicated trade counter at the firm’s Ashton-Under-Lyne HQ to meet the needs of dealers in the Greater Manchester district and surrounding areas. The official opening of the facility follows a ‘soft launch’ to two long-standing customers, which resulted in a 176% rise in sales on those accounts. Located in Spicers’ recently reconfigured 275,000 sq ft North-West site, the space includes a customer-facing trade counter, seating area, refreshment machines and toilets for drivers collecting from the new facility. The trade counter enables customers to place multiple orders from 1,000s of SKUs throughout the working day, with collections from 7 a.m. the next morning. Spicers Sales Director Steve Morley points out that Spicers is the only wholesaler in the UK to offer this service, which it plans to develop further in the future. He said: “The second phase of this development will allow dealers to place ‘emergency orders’ throughout the day, which will be available for collection two hours later. This will enable local dealers to provide an unrivalled service against ‘big box’ competitors.” Flexson award Flexson, an Exertis brand and creator of accessories for Sonos products, has picked up the award for Best Rack or Mounting Product at the Smart Building Awards 2022 for its Flexson Wall Mount for Sonos Ray. Perfect for a home cinema setup, the wall mount features Flexson’s cable management system, which channels cables though a non-intrusive hole and chases them into the wall for a tidy installation. The Flexson SRWM has multiple fixing points and a one-part design for a quick and easy installation. www.exertis.co.uk QBS certified as a B Corp business QBS has become one of 5,000 organisations around the world to be certified as a B Corp business in recognition of its high social and environmental performance. Covering the company’s operations in the UK, Germany, France and the Nordics, B Corp Certification is testament to the high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency in relation to its employees, communities, customers, suppliers and the planet. On its journey to B Corp Certification, the software distributor has already attained ISO14001 certification; followed the SBTi framework; provided environmental disclosure in annual accounts; pledged to net zero; and become the first net carbon neutral distributor in the UK, using only Gold Standard VER (Verified Emission Reduction) offsets. Therese Stevinson, Sustainability and Diversity Officer at QBS Technology Group, said: “After a huge team effort, we are proud to announce QBS is a Certified B Corporation. We found the application process to be an incredibly valuable experience and over the coming years we are looking forward to continuing to make positive changes that will further benefit our stakeholders and wider society.” www.qbstechnology.com Midwich helps staff survive cost of living crisis Midwich has recruited a full-time employee to help develop initiatives to protect its 350+ employees from the cost-of-living crisis. Since the start of September, the AV distributor has implemented a number of measures at its Head Office in Diss, Norfolk, including the provision of supermarket vouchers; fuel vouchers; hot drinks and snacks at the on-site café; hot and cold lunches; everyday necessities such as food, toiletries and cleaning products; family treat bags containing sweets, hot chocolate, popcorn and other items; and firewood. Mark Lowe, Managing Director (UK and Ireland) at Midwich Group plc, said: “We have worked really hard in recent years to continually improve what we offer our people. We have paid particular attention to regularly reviewing salaries and perks. We also operate meaningful incentives like our profit-share scheme and free share awards. In addition to this, if there are small gestures that we can make to help our people whilst the cost of living is high, then we are absolutely committed to doing everything that we can. We have plenty more ideas and have recruited a full-time person to help with this.” www.midwichgroupplc.com Added support from VOW Wholesale VOW Wholesale is enhancing the support it provides to business supplies resellers to help them cope with price inflation, rapidly rising overheads, chronic labour shortages, ongoing supply chain disruption and other challenges. New initiatives on top of VOW’s existing value-added service and support offering include: n An Incremental Growth Rebate that allows resellers to gain up to a 30% rebate on incremental purchases in the Traditional and Facilities categories; n The re-introduction of timed AM dealer drops to provide greater all-round service flexibility and enable qualifying resellers to plan onward delivery on their own vans; n Seamless real-time order tracking with end-to-end scanning for all deliveries made via VOW’s Self-Serve Portal, Truline; n Bespoke product sourcing via VOW’s Self-Serve Portal, with a dedicated team sourcing and quoting on non-stocked items. VOW Wholesale MD Adrian Butler said: “We understand and recognise that times have been tough for our resellers over the past few years, and the challenges seem to keep on coming. We have listened carefully to the open and honest feedback we have received, which has helped us identify some crucial steps towards a more sustainable and collaborative future for resellers, VOW and the industry as a whole. “With our experienced teams behind each initiative, I am excited to see where these developments will take us.” www.vowwholesale.co.uk Adrian Butler
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